


1957

by Idkwhatever



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: 1950s, 1950s Slang, 50s Greasers, 50s au, AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe - Greasers, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Anal Sex, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Blood and Injury, Blow Jobs, Blow Jobs in a Car, Bottom Lu Han, Car Sex, Drama, Drama & Romance, Drunken Shenanigans, EXO - Freeform, EXO K - Freeform, EXO M - Freeform, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Gang Violence, Gangs, Greasers, Homophobia, HunHan - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, Kim Jongin | Kai & Oh Sehun are Best Friends, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Oh Sehun, Racist Language, Sex in a Car, Smut, Top Oh Sehun, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, Underage Smoking, Violence, a friendship way, but in a good way, everyone generally being a dumbass, fluffy parts, if you love 50s aus you'll probably love this, realistic to the 50s, rival gangs, side chanbaek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:41:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idkwhatever/pseuds/Idkwhatever
Summary: Growing up in the 1950s was a memorable time for Oh Sehun. Being a greaser with the hair, the friends, the fights, and the girls. But the most memorable of it all happened in 1957





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this to my Asianfanfics account a few years back, but I edited it up and thought I'd post it here! This is one of my favorite fics I've written and I hope you enjoy it too. I love 50s aus and I don't see a lot of them which is partly why I wrote it (It also has a bit of The Outsiders kinda vibe/elements to it too) 
> 
> A few warnings this story does contain homophobia (internal and external), mentions of abuse, racism, blood, violence, underage alcohol use, underage smoking, and underage sex (consensual)

May 17th Brooklyn, NY 1957

Sehun wasn’t looking for a fight when he woke up that morning. For a Change none of them were. Yet there he was again. Hands covered in some idiot’s blood that he had nicked in the face with his knife, the sound of police sirens wailing in the distance, and the unmistakably potent smell of cigarettes and grease. It had started to become a typical Saturday for Sehun. Going out to do some mundane activity, and somehow ending up running away from the fuzz.

If he was ever asked to pinpoint the reason why his Saturdays always ended up the same, the answer was easy.

Kim Jongin.

Jongin was a hood if there ever was one. His hyperactive and daring personality paired with that hot temper of his was a recipe for disaster. Which was what usually happened when you hung with him. Luckily enough, even though he also got them in a shit ton of trouble, Jongin was smart enough to know when trouble became too much.

“Let’s split,” Jongin shouted over the roar of the rapidly approaching sirens, a constant reminder of their impending doom. Sehun nodded, jumping back from the guy he had just sliced, only to get socked in the side of the head by someone else. His ears rang out as he took off, blindly running after his friend. Jongin hopped the fence - and the other was quick to follow, landing with a thud. Through the ringing in his ear, Sehun could hear ecstatic laughter.

“Ah man totally worth it. What a bunch of pricks. They weren’t even runnin’ when the cops pulled up. Did you see the tall ones face, Sehun? Did you? Sehun?”

Jongin’s face came into view as he leaned in. “Ah shit, you’re bleeding.” He tilted his head up to inspect the side of it.

There was one point in time that if Jongin had touched Sehun like that his heart would have raced inexplicably. But now Sehun was happy that weird phase had passed and they were back to before. Not like Jongin had even really noticed a difference in the other. And not like it would have mattered if he did, Sehun didn’t even understand why it had happened.

Jongin dropped his chin and cursed under his breath. “Shit that guy must’ve been wearing a ring. Does it hurt?”

Sehun shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly “Just a lil.” He mumbled and reached up to touch the side of his head above the ear. His fingers came back covered in more blood, this time his own.

“Suho’s gonna kick our asses for fighting.”

That sentence scared Sehun more than any bleeding in his head ever could.

Kim Junmyeon, better known as Suho, was Jongin’s older brother. Both brothers were strongly willed with a leader mentally and a protective nature. But that’s where the similarities ended. Suho was quieter and more reserved and actually thought out his plans and used his head. On the other side of the spectrum, his younger brother was impulsive with emotions that ran most of his choices rather than actually thinking about them. Even their features weren’t that similar, besides the dark hair and nice lips. However, Jongin’s lips were infamous for making girls cry, while Suho never kissed a girl just to break her heart.

The only thing that both boys shared undoubtedly was - if they told you they were gonna kick your ass - they meant it.

“Come on,” Jongin remarked with a twinge of fear in his own eyes. “We better get back fast, before that blood starts to fill your ear.”

The walk to Jongin’s house wasn’t too far from the block the were on, and before they knew it they were back in the hood.

The type of place Sehun grew up in wasn’t glamorous in any stretch on the imagination. Every house was a shitty shade of color that you could barely even make out anymore because the paint was always so chipped away. Then to go along with the shitty house there was a just as shitty dead lawn out front.

Jongin’s house was a rundown three bedroom, two-bath place with more dirt than grass out front, but it was Sehun’s home away from home. Hell, it practically was his own home. It had become a sanctuary for their whole group of friends. The door was always open to anyone who wanted in, and you were almost guaranteed to find someone crashed on the couch every morning. It was partially because of convenience, placed near the center of all the houses in the neighborhood, but anyone would be lying if they said that was the main reason. The real reason it was the group spot was as simple as the only ‘adult’ that ever went into that house anymore was Junmyeon, who was that only in age

Jongin nudged the screen door to the house open yelling out a “We’re back,” before trying to make a beeline to the bathroom with the other.

“That was sooner than expected why are- Oh God Dammit!”

Suho stood in the kitchen doorway with his hand on his hip and the other clutching a dishrag, looking like a picture you would find out of a housewife magazine. He studied them for a second longer before speaking. “Are you bleeding on my carpet Oh Sehun?”

“No, uh, yes –uh sorry sir.”

“Don’t call me sir, we’re still just friends.” Suho sighed, tossing him the dishrag. “Put that against your head until I get the bandages.”

Jongin and Sehun shared brief panicked looks when Suho walked passed them, but they quickly knocked it off the second he returned with bandages and a wet cloth. He pulled Sehun’s hand with the towel away from his head and started to haphazardly clean the wound. “How the hell did this happen?”

“We were climbing a fence.” Jongin offered up quickly “And Sehun cut the side of his head on it. “

“Uh huh,” Suho mumbled, leaning away from Sehun to look at Jongin. “And I suppose that handsome bruise forming on your chin was from fence climbing too.” Jongin’s hand shot up to feel the bruise that was indeed spreading purple slowly along his tan skin.

“Maybe.” He snapped and started to walk away to the kitchen.

Suho started to harshly wipe away at the cut to get the blood out of Sehun’s hair, making him let out a soft hiss. “Kai, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah yeah.” Jongin sassed from the other room.

Kai was a nickname that Suho had given his younger brother a long time ago. And while it used to be limited to just their friend group, now there wasn’t a person in town who didn’t call him it.

“You know what I said about fighting. The fighting fuckin’ stops. What’s so difficult to understand! Either stop fighting or stop losing every fight you get into!”

“Hey!” Jongin said sticking his head out of the kitchen. “For your damn information we win every fight we get into.”

“Oh yeah, I’m so sure.” Suho mumbled with an eye roll, finally starting to bandage.“That’s why Sehun comes home with things like this nasty head wound.”

“It’s really not that bad-” Sehun tried to put in.

“Shut up Sehun your head is bleeding.” Suho shot back. He finished tying off the bandage, telling him to sit down as he stalked off to the kitchen.

Jongin came back first and flopped down next to Sehun. He turned on the tv, which was playing The Adventures of Superman, and sat in silence. Finally, after a few seconds of t.v filled noise, he turned to the other and nodded to the bandages around his head.

“You ok?”

“I’m fine, really.” Sehun insisted, not looking back at him.

More silence followed before he looked back at him again. “Sorry I dragged you into the fight, but you heard what they said about my mom.”

Sehun did small understanding nod, which only gave him more of a headache.

To anyone who might’ve heard what Kai said, Sehun knew they probably would’ve called him a mamas boy, or a painty-waist, or a suck up, but it was far from the truth. The reality of it was that Jongin hadn’t spoken to his mother since he was eleven. Kim Leigh had left her family behind without a second thought, running off with some traveling sales man to god knows where. And in the five years since she did, much like how the nickname Kai spread, the story of his mom did too. It was no secret about his mom, and certainly, no secret either that if you wanted to get Kai real pissed real quick, just mention her.

Whether Kai fought for her dignity or for his own never did occur to Sehun.

It might’ve just been that Kim Jongin didn’t want the pity and the looks. He didn’t want to be just known as the kid being raised by his nineteen-year-old dropout brother, with a felon father, and a whore mother.

The silence was only broken again by Suho walking in with a glass of water for Sehun. In the middle of Suho’s lecture about how stupid they were once again - the screen door burst open dramatically. In walked Chanyeol, dragging a bloody Jongdae with him.

Sehun’s stomach dropped at the sight while Suho sprung up almost running over to the two boys.

“What the hell happened to you, Chen?”

“Oh you know, I just walked into a door repeatedly for fun.” Jongdae deadpanned as Chanyeol dropped him into a chair. The amount of blood he was dripping onto the carpet made Sehun’s look minuscule in comparison.

“He got jumped.” Chanyeol clarified for him, ignoring the sarcasm.

It was obvious Chanyeol just got off work. Though he sported his usual white t-shirt with the cigarette pack rolled up in the sleeve, he also had his bag boy apron pulled on over his jeans. The normally white cloth was now was covered in dots of blood, assumedly from Jongdae.

Suho let out an exasperated sigh from having to play doctor again. “Go grab some ice Chanyeol, it looks like most of the blood is from his nose. Sehun go get me more bandages.”

When Sehun returned with the needed materials, Jongdae was already starting his story, telling it with bitterness to each word.

“-So there I was, just standing there outside the store waiting for Chanyeol to get off work, when a group of, I don’t know, like three guys walked up. Two taller, and one short one, all clearly greasers.” He paused to press a cloth Suho must’ve grabbed for him to his lip. “Anyway, the tall blonde one went inside, then tried to off with somethin. When he ran out I told him he couldn't take that so the short one shoved me and I took a swing. Next thing you know all three of them jumped me. " 

"Do you know who it was?" Suho asked his brow furrowing

"Yeah, I got a real good look at them while they were kicking my ass." Jongdae sassed looking back at him "I don't know, the short one had a mono-lid I think."

"It was Wu’s gang," Chanyeol answered for him again upon returning to the room with a washcloth full of ice. "The ones that live north of us, they're mostly Chinese I think."

"I know who you're talking about," Kai said snapping his finger at him "people always confuse us for being with them, askin’ if we're Chinese too."

Sehun scoffed and Jongdae looked at him for the first time and caught sight of the bandage around his head. "What the hell happened to you?"

"He was stupid," Suho interjected, looking back over like he just remembered he was ticked off at him.

"Wow, your head can actually bleed from that? I'm surprised Kai's doesn't do it more often."

Kai socked him in the arm before Chen could even block him.

"Ahh watch it dipshit, I'm bruised!"

Suho swatted Jongin's hand away to inspect Jongdae more. The ice on his head was making the swelling go down, but his skin was still bruising. There was already a nasty purple looking mark where Kai had hit him, making Suho raise a brow.

“That’s from home,” Jongdae mumbled pulling his arm away.

Saying that Chen’s alcoholic bum of a father didn’t hit him was like saying the sun didn’t rise every morning.

“We should go kick their asses.” Jongin declared standing up, anger clearly in his eyes for Wu’s gang.

Suho’s head whipped around to look at him. “No, no you will fucking not.”

“Why not, we gotta go show those shits what they started.”

“I cannot make this more clear Kai.” He leaned in a bit with every word he spoke. “No more god damn fighting. Go find something else to do like a normal teenager.”

Kai let out an exasperated sigh, but before they could start arguing Sehun cut in. “We could catch a flick or maybe go to Charlie’s or somethin.”

That caught Kai’s attention.

For Kai, the next best thing to picking fights was picking up chicks at Charlie’s.

Charlie’s was this shitty bar that was infamously easy to get into without getting caught. The beer served there was even more infamously shitty, but no one actually went there for good alcohol. Everyone went because it was the main place to meet someone and hookup. And boy, did Kai love to do that.

“Fine, I can dig it.” He finally said before looking over at Jongdae. “You up for Charlie’s?”

Chen was busy try to bum a cigarette off Chanyeol, who had unrolled the pack from his sleeve and was fishing one out for himself. When he got one he placed it between his cut lips and looked over, the cigarette waggling as he talked. “Nah, got a date with Linda tonight.”

Linda was Jongdae’s on and off again girlfriend who was as stubborn as he was. Having grown up in the same hood, she wasn’t like other girls who just saw them as trouble or just something you lock tongues with once for the thrill. But on the same note - growing up in the hood also had made her smart mouthed, which then lead to her and Chen’s break ups. But when it came down Linda had Jongdae whipped enough that they somehow always ended up back together. 

“Poor girl.” Kai grinned. “She has to go out with a guy who looks like he had a damn bowling ball dropped on his face.”

Chen just flicked the dead match at him he had used to light his cigarette.

“So it looks like it’s just us bachelors tonight.” Kai then said, addressing Chanyeol. The taller boy was busy lighting up his own cigarette, his eyes slowly drifting up to Jongin.

“Actually I promised I’d take Baekhyun to see Not of This Earth.”

Byun Baekhyun was Chanyeol’s best friend for about three years now and was probably the only person who would hang with them who wasn’t a hood. Chanyeol and he had met under unusual circumstances, but the two had bonded quickly. Now Baekhyun had Chanyeol just as whipped as Linda had Chen, if not more so.

“Suho?” Kai then tried.

“No thanks, I’d rather sleep. I’ve been up since five workin’ the factories.”

Jongin let out a noise that was rather whiney. “Fine least give us the car.”

“Ah hell no.” Suho snorted loudly “I ain’t loaning you my car for some back seat bingo.”

Kai let out an annoyed sigh this time “Whatever, it’ll just be me and Sehun then.” He took off for the bathroom as he spoke, pulling off his baseball T for a clean white shirt. Sehun watched as he snagged the hair tonic off the counter to slick his hair back. No matter how hard he tried, Kai could never quite get his hair to stay back completely, it always ended up with a few pieces in his face. Sehun honestly thought it looked good, and so did the girls, but Kai hated it.

Kai walked back out, grabbing Suho’s old leather jacket off the back of the couch. Suho hadn’t worn that thing in a few years, instead, he had switched over to Daddy O’ shirts, trying to dress more like Elvis did at that time. Everyone thought it suited him, just as the old leather jacket suited Kai. 

“You ready?”Jongin asked, shrugging the jacket on. Sehun gave a soft nod, head throbbing a little less this time, and moved for the door, unwrapping the bandage around his head on the way despite Suho’s protests.

“Ay, might swing by later,” Chen called after them. “All depends on how the night goes.” He wiggled his eyebrows cartoonishly, making Kai scoff.

As they exited the house Sehun was hit with a cool evening breeze. It was relieving to have the sunset, with the days getting warmer as summer drew near, walking under the hot sun was hell.

Kai seemed to have the same idea, and inhaled the fresh air deeply, picking up his step. “I love the darkness.” He grinned at the oncoming night. “It conceals our sins.”

Sehun picked up the pace to keep up with him, shoving his hands into his old leather jacket pocket. It was one of the only jackets he had, but he liked it, even with the scuffed up tear in the bottom.

“What do you think I should get Suho for his birthday?” Jongin suddenly asked, his eyes concentrating on the sidewalk in front of him in thought.

“Uh.” Sehun hadn't really even thought about what he was going to get him, let alone what Kai was going to get him. “A new part for his car?”

“Who are we kidding, that’d be a gift for me.” Kai chuckled loudly.

It was true, Kai loved that car like it was his own. Suho was the one who taught him how to fix it up, and after that, he was hooked. He loved cars, even getting a part time job at an auto shop to help out with bills.

“You could get him new work gloves for the factory,” Sehun suggested unsurely.

“Fuck that.” Kai immediately responded. “I don’t want to encourage him working there. He can do so much more with his life than that. I-.” Kai exhaled slowly. “It just makes me mad that he had to drop out of school cause my fucking dad got himself arrested. Suho has potential, he actually got good grades and shit. Not like me.” He let out a slow sigh.

Sehun could tell this conversation was heading to a more personal level, something neither of them were very good at together. So instead of actually saying something useful, he blurted out. “Hey, you could always buy him a girlfriend. Lord knows he needs one.”

At least it made Kai laugh.

When they arrived at Charlie’s the place was already packed. There was a worker at the door trying to check IDs and weed out the people attempting to sneak in. The guy wasn't typically there, probably assigned to help lessen out the crowd. While Sehun knew neither Kai nor he really looked sixteen, even they could get caught at the door without either an ID or at least a plan.

Since they lacked in the first, Kai was quick to move with an idea. All it took was an opportune moment of confusion when a gaggle of girls tried to get past the worker. Kai latched his arms around one's waist with a nod for Sehun to do the same to another. The girl didn’t complain, rather she looked over at him with a blush that dotted across her face, quickly flashing the guy her ID without breaking eye contact and walking Sehun in with her. Up ahead he could hear Kai still charming the girl he had, and if the smirk he was wearing wasn’t a tell-tale sign he was flirting, the blush on the girl's face gave it away. The leader of the pack of girls turned around, surprised when she saw they had somehow wormed their way in with them.

“Hey, I know you.” She said, jabbing a finger at Kai. “You’re Junmyeon’s little brother, that sophomore.”

“Sophomore?” The girl next to her said, looking at Sehun too. “They don’t look like sophomores.”

Kai just grinned and introduced himself to the girl, who had apparently gone to school with Suho before he dropped out. As he worked up the charm and flirt ed with them -which had the girls reeling as usual - Sehun stood quietly by. It wasn’t that he couldn’t flirt, he had seen Kai do it enough he definitely knew how it was more that he didn’t want to.

Sehun knew the girls were attractive and all that, just none of them sparked his interest. That was typical for him with most girls, he had just boiled it down to that he was too picky.

The conversation ended with the girl telling Kai, “Your flattery runs sweet darling, but talk to me again in a year or two.” She chuckles. “When you’re not sneaking into bars.” The girls giggled and waved at them as they walked away, Kai just continued to grin back.

“Come on, let’s get a drink,” Sehun mumbled grabbing his shoulder and dragging him away.

The bar was already packed with people lining it up and down, yelling out drinks that they wanted, trying to get their share. Kai slid into a seat next to a tall junior from their school, flashing her a smile. She quickly hid her face then gave a shy look back.

“You have a really pretty smile.” Kai grinned, spinning his chair to face her. Sehun rolled his eyes, knowing that boy only had one thing on his mind ever. 

“Thanks.” The girl giggled. “Not as cute as yours.”

Sehun swore he could gag. Instead, he managed to catch the bartender’s attention and order himself a drink and down it before he could barf at the two showering each other with cheesy compliments. He was so engrossed with his own drinking that he barely noticed when Kai slapped his arm, muttering something about going to dance with the girl. Sehun just nodded in response, before registering what the other had said, whipping his head around to watch him disappear into the crowd, being dragged along by the junior.

The taller boy was about to turn back to his alcohol bitterly when someone passing through the crowd caught his eye under the crappy bar light. All he got was a quick glance of a delicate face before it was blocked by a taller body. Sehun stood up, stretching his neck to try and get sight of the same person again, but they were gone into the sea of people.

Sitting back down, Sehun held his glass between his hands, trying to remember what he had just seen, but the delicate features were quickly fading from his memory. He really didn’t want them to, and he tried to hold onto them for a second longer, but they were gone as fast as the person who had disappeared.

Sehun considered getting up and leaving the place entirely, none of the people there seeming to be worth it, and Kai was fine on his own, probably wouldn’t even notice if he was gone, but then his eyes caught onto someone a few stools down the bar.

It was that delicate face from before. A soft slim features, with small pink lips, and dainty hands that pushed back silky brown hair. It took Sehun a near full minute of staring before it finally dawned on him that despite the delicateness of the face before him, it wasn’t a girl that was making his heart race.

He tore his eyes from the male in front of him to look at the friends he was with. One fairly tall one, just a few inches larger than Sehun himself, was busy pounding drinks down. The other two were in the middle of a heated conversation about god knows what, clearly riled up about something. All of them looked too rough to be hanging out with something as delicate as the boy on the stool.

Sehun tore his eyes away, chugging the remainder of his drink in hopes of distracting himself from the weird feeling stirring inside his stomach every time he looked at the boy. He was considering asking the bartender for another when his eyes drifted down a few stools and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest when the boy was looking back.

A string of curses filled Sehun's head as he looked away probably a bit too fast, and stayed staring at the wall straight ahead. Even then he could feel the smaller boys eyes on him. Slowly Sehun turned his gaze again, having it met by the others, who was clearly sizing him up. And then the other smiled, a small gentle thing that was just as delicate and beautiful as the rest of the boy.

Sehun kicked himself for calling another boy beautiful and kicked himself even harder for the feeling of his face heating up at the other's action. He quickly looked back at his now empty glass fiddling with the edge of it as he could feel the boy's gaze still on him.

Suddenly there was the sound of the empty stool next to him turning as somebody sat down. Sehuns head snapped up to lock eyes once again with the delicate boy, whose smile only grew.

“See something you like?”

If Sehun still had drink in his cup he surely would’ve spit it out, or at least spilled it over in the clumsy fumbling mess he became.

“I-I-uh-I”

The boy laughed, and Sehun would have reveled in the sound had he not been too busy trying to gather his thoughts and not make a fool of himself more than he already was.

“I’m only joking.” the boy smiled once again, turning to face the bar. His friends seemed to not even notice he was gone, the two arguing had disappeared somewhere, while the one slamming drinks had his tongue down some girls throat. Sehun looked immediately away from that and back at the delicate boy who was still looking at him.

“I’m Han.” It took Sehun a full second to even register what the other had said he was so busy staring at him. “But people call me Luhan. They just crammed my last name in with it.” 

It was another second before the taller could even think to respond, clearing his throat and looking down at his glass.“Oh Sehun.”

“Well Oh Sehun, what are you doing here alone at a bar on a Friday night?”

“I’m not here alone, my friends here too.” Sehun wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend himself to this boy, but there he was staring him down. “He just left to dance with someone.”

The boy's soft smile slowly turned into something similar to a smirk “What? Can’t dance?”

“I can dance fine.” Sehun shot back.

“No one to dance with?”

There was another pause, but then with a sudden burst of courage, he mumbled out. “I mean, not unless you’re offering.”

Luhan seemed to pause for a moment as his smirk grew. Sehun couldn't meet his eyes and instead looked up to the bartender calling him over to finally pour a new drink. He took it then looked to the other and gave a cheers sign, taking a sip. Luhan was still staring at him and the taller was starting to regret saying anything.

“Do you always drink so much?” Luhan suddenly asked. Sehun shrugged before taking another sip.

“It's something to do I suppose.”

Luhan spun in his stool to face the other completely, still smirking. “There’s always...other things you can be doing instead.”

It took Sehun a solid second before he comprehended the innuendo behind the words, his face heating up more than he thought it ever could.

Luhan let out a beautiful sounding laugh again and flagged the bartender over. “I’ll have what he's having.”

Sehun watched as the delicate boy slammed the drink down all at once then turned to the other with that same smirk from before. Taking it as a challenge Sehun pushed the rest of his drink down as well.

Luhan grinned reaching in to grab the other's glass from his hands, his face unusually close to Sehuns. “I like a man who can handle his drinks.”

Sehuns stomach churned with an unfamiliar feeling, his mind circling around the first four words, and watched as Luhan leaned over the bar to set the glasses back. Sehuns eyes immediately fell on his ass, then looked away quickly as a guilty and confused feeling washed over him.

With slightly shaky hands Sehun reached into his leather jacket and fished out his pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a thing of matches striking the last one in there, then cursing when it wouldn’t light. Suddenly Luhan was leaning in towards him with a match in hand. Sehun stopped to look him in the eyes and Luhan looked back, biting his lips with an unreadable expression for once.

The stare was broken when Sehun cleared his throat awkwardly and turned away moving the cigarette out of his mouth to let the smoke out. He stared down at the dirty bar again, unable to meet the other’s gaze.

“So how long have you been smoking?”

“Since I was thirteen - fourteenish,” Sehun said taking another drag. “My best friends older brother did it so we stole a few back in middle school and smoked them behind the bleachers. Thought it made us look good.”

“I don’t think you need those to look good.”

Sehun looked back up at Luhan quickly. The delicate boy was still staring at him with that same unreadable gaze that made Sehun squirm. His stomach was doing flips every time the boy looked at him like that and god he wanted it to stop, no matter how good it felt, it didn’t outway how wrong it was.

Luhan's hand rested on his knee suddenly and Sehun jumped at the sudden contact but didn’t make a move to push him away. His heart raced as he watched him lean, plucking the cigarette out of Sehun’s mouth, staring into his eyes. Slowly Luhan brought it up and took a drag continuing to stare. He let the smoke seep out between his perfect pink lips, and Sehun couldn't look away when his tongue darted out to moisten them.

Sehun’s stomach was wild now and he tried to get it to calm down, but it was impossible the way Luhan was staring at him with those half-lidded eyes. It only made his heart race faster when Luhan leaned in again, his fingers brushing along Sehun’s lips as he let him take his own drag off the cig. He was close enough that Sehun could feel the warmth coming off him in the already hot room, or maybe that was the heat growing between his legs as Luhan's free hand crept up his thigh.

Luhan's face was incredibly close and all he could do was stare at his lips. Those soft looking pink lips, that were moist from all the licking. Small and pink and perfect. And suddenly they were on his. The kiss was slow and soft, almost experimental, a bit unsure. He tasted like cigarettes, booze, and something sweet. The combination oddly intoxicating.

Luhan broke the kiss before Sehun could even reciprocate, his eyes holding disappointment and hurt. Sehun, in turn, grabbed the boy’s small delicate hand hauling him up, then pulling him along behind him.

It was Luhan’s turn to be surprised as the other pulled him through the crowd and out the back door. The now night air was cool and the small boy's eyes were wide and a tad frightened under the street lamps. Sehun didn't give him any time to speak before he pushed him up against a wall, his lips harshly pressing into the others.

Luhan got over his shock much faster than Sehun had gotten over his own and started kissing back almost immediately. It was no longer sweet, instead, it was full of passion and want as Sehun licked his lip, desperate to gain entrance.

Sehun had made out with plenty of girls before. Usually some no-name girl that was friends with whoever Kai had picked up, but none of them had felt like kissing Luhan. To Sehun, kissing always seemed to be wet and slobbery- like two slugs rubbing up against his lips- but Luhan was nothing like that. He made Sehun’s heart race and his body feel hot as his finger moved down to grip the other’s hips.

Luhan kissed back with just as much eagerness, letting out a soft moan when Sehun nipped at his lip. His hand reached up to grip at the back of the taller's hair, locking his head in place. The pair broke apart, both already out of breath, looking at each other momentarily before moving back together. Sehun’s hands wandered behind the other to grab at that ass he had been looking at earlier, earning another groan, this time louder. When Luhan’s leg moved up to wrap around Sehun he responded by picking him up one swift motion, breaking the kiss briefly to allow the smaller to wrap both legs around him.

Sehun only pulled away again to run his lips along the other boy's neck. Luhan let out a tiny gasp and his hold on Sehun’s hair only tightened making the taller boy groan in response. Their lips connected again but there was barely half a second before the door burst open interrupting them.

“Lu-”

Sehun jumped back, practically dropping Luhan to look over at the guy who had just walked out. It didn’t take Sehun long at all to recognize him as one of the friends with Luhan earlier, one who was arguing. Sehuns heart raced at the fact of it all, leaving him paralyzed in fear, staring at the guy like a deer in headlights. He had been caught, he’d been caught kissing a boy. He had been caught kissing a boy and now he was going to pay for it. Luhan’s friend was staring back at them with a mix of emotions running by his face, mainly confusion before, finally, he settling on a weird indifference.

“Luhan, we need to leave now.”

“Lay I’m-”

“Luhan please.” His friend sounded desperate, almost pleading.

Luhan looked back at Sehun with a pained expression before pulling away. He kissed him quickly again on the lips as a goodbye and moved after his friend who was practically running back inside.

Sehun stood there frozen in for a few more seconds before snapping out of it and darting inside after the two. Over the heads in the crowd he could see them pushing their way through as well, he started after them - twisting around groups and shoving his way, keeping his eyes on them. Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm stopping him.

“Sehun.” Kai was there smelling like cheap beer and pulling Sehun back towards him. “They’re here. The asshole who beat up Chen.”

“What-”

Kai cut him off speaking fast “Chen’s date with Linda was a bust, he’s here now and saw one of the guys that jumped him- Just C'mon! “ Jongin started dragging Sehun through the crowd again by his arm, both of them walking fast and weaving in and out people, wading against the endless sea. Finally, they burst out the door and into the darkness outside. Faintly from inside Sehun could hear Elvis’s Hound Dog playing, not even having noticed it before.

Chen was already outside and turned back to look at them quickly before continuing to move after a group of four guys walking away briskly. Sehun had a sinking feeling in his stomach when seeing them, even before Chen called out.

“Hey, nosebleed!”

The tallest of the group spun around to look back, anger crossing his features as he stopped walking. “What? Back for another round of us kicking your ass?”

Chen snarled and Kai grabbed his shoulder before he could move, surprisingly being the one to stop the fight, at least for now.

“Yeah, you’re real tough. I would be too if I picked fights three against one.” Chen shot back.

This time it was the other guy – Kris something or another- that moved at Chen, only to be stopped by a delicate hand grabbing his arm. Sehun felt his mouth go dry as his fear was confirmed, gazing at Luhan on the other side who starring back with wide eyes.

“So are you gonna hit first or not fucker?” Chen barked out at them.

Kris looked at Luhan then back at Chen and pulled his arm out of his grasp. It was a split second, Sehun could’ve even missed the punch thrown by Kris, but the dodge with too much flair by Jongdae was hard to not see.

Kai wasted no time after seeing that and moved to swing at the shorter one. Punches were being thrown and blocked so fast it took a second for Sehun to move. He could feel his heart pounding with adrenaline as he threw a hit at the guy from earlier, Lay he believed his name was. The other dodged his blow and swung back quickly. Sehun easily dodged it, having been in plenty of fights before. Hell, this wasn’t even his first fight of the day. Beside him, he could see Kai get a good hit in on the others face, but the smaller wasn’t as tiny as he looked. In fact, he tackled Kai at the stomach, who returned with throwing punches into the other's head. Sehun got hit in the side by the Lay guy beside him. Either he really wasn't good at fighting or he wasn’t trying to hurt him that bad. Another punch was thrown and Sehun dodged it to run over to where the shorter had pinned Kai against the wall and was socking him in the stomach. He pulled the other guy off Kai, only to have him turn and punch him directly in the jaw. Sehun could taste blood and quickly dodged the next blow, then have the third one cut short by Kai tackling the guy to the ground. Jongin's fists were flying as each punch hit the guy in the face, who in defense was holding his arms up to try and block them. Suddenly someone was pulling Kai off, and Sehun barely had time to register it was Luhan before Kai turned and punched the boy in the jaw. Luhan stumbled back and let out an angry cry of pain, then moved in to hit Kai back. Sehun didn’t get to see if he landed the punch because suddenly he was on the ground, his head hitting the concrete with a clank and his ears ringing. A series of blows were delivered to his stomach and he couldn’t breathe, coughing and sputtering.

“That’s enough Xiumin!” A threatening voice yelled, pulling off the boy on top of him. Sehun could see the Lay kid from earlier holding the shorter kid back. The two of them quickly disappeared from sight and all Sehun could hear was the sounds of Chen yelling at them for being cowards and the vague hum of music from inside still drifting out.

Well you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine

Suho’s birthday party rolled around about a week after the fight. Sehun still had some nasty looking bruises on his stomach, but it was nothing compared to the ones Chen had, along with his old ones. Word around town, as usual, provided by Linda who could never shut up about the gossip, was that they had scuffed up Wu’s gang pretty good too. Linda claimed she had actually spotted Kris that week at school sporting a black eye down the hall. The idea of Wu actually showing up to school seemed unlikely and slightly laughable, but it still it had Jongdae beaming with pride saying how he wished he had seen it too.

Sehun could care less about the fight, his mind was still plagued with thoughts of the delicate boy named Luhan, whom he’d thought of almost every night. The memories of kissing him still made his heart flutter but his stomach drop at the whole situation. Sehun didn’t believe in heaven or hell or any of that jazz, but he did believe in the principles and morals he had grown up with. Having these feelings for a boy might not have been a sin, but it was, it was just ..wrong. It was abnormal, there must’ve been something wrong with his head. Yet, despite everything, Sehun wanted more.

It was about half an hour before the party was supposed to start and Sehun was still standing in the bathroom of the Kim house holding his shirt up to inspect the purplish marks along his abdomen.

A sharp knock to the open door made him jump and drop his shirt, looking up to Baekhyun who was leaning against the frame.

“Checking if you have abs yet?”

Sehun rolled his eyes in response. “Shut up, I don’t have to check.”

“Whatever you say. The parties bout to start, you should probably come on out. Kai’s getting twitchy and won’t sit down, it’d do him good if you could distract him.”

Grabbing his jacket off the toilet, Sehun pulled it on as he walked to the door. “Why aren’t you with Chanyeol?” he paused to stand next to Baekhyun who just shrugged.

“He’s arm wrestling Chen. Didn’t really stick around to watch them try to out-man each other for the like hundredth time. ”

Even from there Sehun could hear the sounds of Chen and Linda’s cheers from winning. He was about to walk back out into the hall when Baekhyun grabbed onto his arm, making Sehun’s eyes shoot down to look at the smaller.

“Are you ok Sehun? You’ve been acting strange, distant.”

For a brief moment, Sehun considered telling him everything. Baekhyun was different than his other friends. He wasn’t a greaser and he actually did well in school. It made Sehun hope that he could possibly have more knowledge about what was happening to him. That he could tell Sehun what was wrong with him and help him through it. Baekhyun wouldn’t tell anybody, he would understand.

“I’m fine. Just feeling a bit sick lately.”

Baekhyun eyed him warily before dropping his arm. “Alright…Hope you feel better.”

Sehun nodded quickly then darted out into the hall before moving into the living room. The inside was just how he left it. Kai was leaning against the front window, waiting for Suho's car to get back from work, he kept straightening the button up shirt he had put on for the other’s birthday, and smoothing his greased up hair back every few seconds. Chanyeol and Chen were sitting at the kitchen table which had been dragged in there to hold the few gifts and a cake that Baekhyun had made himself. They didn’t have any candles, but Chen had thought it was funny to stick an unlit cigarette in the top of it.  
The others besides Kai had dressed relatively nicely as well. Chanyeol had originally come in a button up like Baekhyun - minus the sweater- but now that was undone to reveal the wife beater underneath. Chen protested dressing up nice for a stupid surprise party but ended up giving in when Linda had actually worn a skirt for once then made him put on something nice as well. With the rapidly approaching summer, the yearly heat wave had arrived and the ACS were running full time. Sehun felt gross sweating up his nice shirt, but if it made Kai happy, he'd keep it on. 

The other boy was busy still staring out the window longingly for his brother to get home. He seemed to be way more excited about his brother's birthday than he ever was about his own. Sehun knew that Kai cared immensely for Junmyeon, probably more than anyone else in the world. He had been like the father he never had, especially when their real father had been arrested for an armed robbery of a convenience store, at least that's the story Suho always told. Suho was a good guy, sacrificing a lot for his younger brother, and Kai was well aware of that, trying his best to pay him back in anyway.

The sound of Suho’s junker of a car rolling up the driveway caught the attention of everyone inside, even Chen stopped his constant chatter to look up at the headlights making their way through the nearly drawn curtains. Kai pulled them completely closed and flipped the lights off with his free hand.

“Everyone places, just like we rehearsed.” He hissed. There was a scramble of bodies moving, Chanyeol practically jumping over table and couch in one go to get behind them. Kai pressed his body against the wall by the door and turned to look at it. In the darkness of the hall, Sehun felt like he was in one of those Batman comics that Chanyeol would always read. The hissing of voices and scraping of chairs died down and then there was complete silence save for the sound of Sehun's own breath and the key turning in the lock. Suddenly the door was open and the lights were flicked on. Upon the loud unison shouting of surprise, Suho dropped the groceries he had in hand.

“Jesus fuck-” He looked around, putting his hand over his heart as an apple rolled out of the paper bag now on the ground. “What the hell are you guys doing? You almost gave me a heart attack, you’re lucky I didn’t have my knife on me!”

Jongin laughed his eyes reflecting the happiness in his face in one of those rare moments. “You wouldn’t stab your own baby brother would you Suho?”

Junmyeon eyes shot over to him. “What the hell is this Kai?”

“A surprise party, isn't it obvious? It’s your birthday.”

“My birthday was Wednesday, I thought that you telling me happy birthday was enough.”

“Nah old man.” Chen cut in, walking over to sling his arm around Suho’s shoulder. “You really think we could let you get away with not celebrating your birthday? The big two O’ man. You’re officially an adult.”

Suho snorted pulling away from Jongdae to bend over and gather the groceries back up. Sehun reached down to pick up the apple that had rolled over to him and place it back on the top of the bag. “I thought I was an adult when I turned eighteen,” Suho mumbled with an eye roll.

“You were still technically a teen I mean. Now you’re all man.”

Suho let out an actual snort and started towards the kitchen. Baekhyun moved in, taking the bag of groceries from his arms. “Come on Suho, I got this, enjoy your party. “

Suho let out a sigh, letting the smaller boy take the bag from his arms. “I don't do birthday parties, it’s just another day, I’m just getting older. Everybody’s getting older.”

Baekhyun paused before subtly nodding his head towards Jongin, the action not missed by Sehun. Apparently, it wasn't missed by Suho either and he glanced over towards his brother, seeing Kai hopeful expression bordering on getting crushed. There was only a brief moment of pause after that before Suho let out once again another sigh, this one with less agitation behind it.

“We’re doing cake first, only cause I’m starving.”

Kai’s face broke out into a grin again and he rushed over to the table with the cake and presents proudly on it.

“It’s chocolate, Baekhyun made it for you.”

Suho softly smiled moving over to sit down at the table, then paused. “Is that a cigarette in it?”

Chanyeol opted to light it instead of answering.

After a surprisingly on tune singing of Happy birthday, Baekhyun started cutting up the cake. Chen joked they could’ve been a band in another lifetime - which they all laughed at.

When presents rolled around Suho had reached for Jongin’s first, but it was taken from his hands before he could even get a good look. Sehun volunteered his own up instead. He had wrapped his in leftover Christmas paper from his grandma. It was a box with a pack of cigarettes and a new tub of hair gel since he and Kai were always using up Suho’s.

Chen and Linda got Suho booze from god knows where considering they were both seventeen. But Suho didn’t question it, so neither did anyone else. Baekhyun brought his present over in a nice box with a bow, which came as a surprise to no one since he came from more money than the rest. He’d got Suho a nice new pair of work gloves, which Suho was grateful for since he was always saying he needed some. Sehun pretended not to see the sour look that had crossed Kai’s face when he saw them. When it came to Chanyeol’s turn, he didn’t have anything to offer up, except for the promise when this was all done, he’d take them all out to Prospect Diner for some late night burgers across town.

Then it was only Kai left.

He proudly held out the large brown paper bag, like the kind Suho just brought home full of groceries, and set it down in front of him. Suho eyed it warily, looking up at his brother before settling on just opening it up.

“Jesus fuck Kai, what the hell!”

Suho carefully pulled out an LP record player with the utmost caution. “What the hell Kai!” he said again. There was a slightly cheesy collective gasp from the rest along with a few curses at the sight. The only person they knew who had a record player was Baekhyun, but his mom would only let him get the records that she considered clean, which ruled out anything the others liked. Jongin just gave the others a shit eating grin.

“Kai, how-how did you afford this?”  
Jongin’s grin just grew and he shrugged slightly. “I just saved my money from working down at the auto shop for a while. It took a bit, but…” He grinned once again at the others.

“No Kai, I can’t accept this,” Suho said standing up. “Take it back. It’s too much. “

Kai's face fell slightly. “No Suho. I worked for this so you can have it. I even bought you a record. “ He dug back into the bag to pull it out and show it to his brother. Suho stood there a bit awkwardly looking between the gift and his brother before he stood up pulling Kai into a hug. There was a brief moment of them hugging before they were both pulling away, brushing themselves off, their cool momentarily broken.

Sehun felt himself smiling before turning back to the record player, not believing the other had actually bought one. “So what are we waiting for? Put the record on.”

Soon Elvis’s Heartbreak Hotel filled the room as they all gathered around, Suho popped open one of his gift bottles of Whiskey from Chen as they all played poker, betting with cigarettes instead of poker chips. By the time the first side of the record was finished, so was the bottle. Suho had most of the cigarettes, still a natural at the game despite how long it had been since he had played with them.

“So are we gonna go for dinner or not?” Suho grinned, leaning heavily onto Sehun next to him. He smelled like a liquor store, but the smile on his face seemed worth whatever hangover he was going to endure in the morning.

“Sure thing.” Chanyeol grinned, he seemed a bit tipsy himself, but a hell of a lot more sober than most people there, excluding Baekhyun. “ I’m driving, you’re all blitzed.”

Sehun didn’t feel that drunk, but the second he stood up the room started tilting. Bracing himself along the wall he let out a probably too loud laugh, at what? Hell if he knew. Soon Kai’s arm moved around his shoulder, his laughing face next to Sehun’s.

“Burger and fries man sounds like heaven.” They stumbled out of the house into the still warm night air, a slight breeze cooled the shirt that had begun to stick to Sehun’s skin.

It was too dark to see anything that clearly, but in the moonlight he could see Suho sliding into the passenger side. Chanyeol was still walking down the steps of the porch, the breeze blowing his open shirt, and the glow of the tip of his cigarette visible in the dark.

Sehun couldn’t see Chen, but he could definitely hear him singing Heartbreak Hotel at the top of his lungs somewhere near the end of the yard. Linda was near him hooting with laughter and snorting every once in a while. Sehun couldn’t remember when they had all gotten outside, somewhere between the wall and his own laughing. The only clear thought on his mind was that the breeze felt like a godsend.

“You two ok?” Baekhyun's voice sounded behind Sehun and Jongin, standing by the door he was locking still.

“Never been better.” Sehun couldn't see Kai’s face at this close but he could image the shit eating grin on his face.

Baekhyun nodded with a soft smile. He paused at the top of the stairs of the porch looking down at Chanyeol who was now in the driver's seat, blowing out the smoke from his cig. Chanyeol looked back up at Baekhyun, giving him a half grin. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Baekhyun seemed to snap out of a daze and move again down the stairs after the others. No one seemed to notice the silent exchange between the two besides Sehun, but his drunk mind didn’t bother to think about it too much. Soon he was sitting with Kai on the back half of the car with his feet on the seats to have enough room for the others.

It took a few minutes of the breeze from the driving to sober Sehun up considerably, soon he was able to focus in on the passing landscape, and the bright city lights as they moved across town. Through the old car radio, Sehun could hear Teen-age Crush by, who was it? Tommy Sands he believed.

They pulled up to the diner, which was letting off a neon blue light with the giant Prospect Diner sign on top. There were only a few cars in the nearly empty parking lot, and Sehun had no idea what time it even was, but judging from the lack of people he guessed it was close to midnight.

Kai was the first one to jump down off the car before it even came to a stop. He seemed a hell of a lot more sober than before and was grinning like the idiot he was.

“You better follow up on your promise of food Park. Otherwise,e I’m gonna kick your ass later.”

“Yeah yeah.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes closing the car door behind him. “Just don’t order the whole menu or nothing.”

“Try to tell me what to do Park, you never said a limit to what we could get.” Kai grinned. Chanyeol moved to playfully sock his arm which led to a brief wrestling match where they tried to put each other in a headlock.

“Ah shit.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing to follow Chen’s gaze to the door of the diner that had just opened, carrying none other than Kris Wu with it. He certainly did have a black eye, even in the low neon lighting Sehun could see it, along with the scowl on Kris’s face.

“You guys sure are ballsy to waltz into our territory like this.”

“Ah buzz off Wu. We’re just trying to get a bite to eat.” Chanyeol shot back. Kris stood near the doorway of the diner with something akin to a snarl on his face. 

“Yeah well, go somewhere else. We don't want trash like you around here.”

At this point Sehun and Chen moved out from where they were still in the car, leaving Linda to let out a “Kick his ass baby.” Sehun moved to stand next to Chanyeol and Kai with Chen doing the same. Suho was still lingering in the back with a worried looking Baekhyun, but even he looked like he was itching for a fight.

“You know you’ve got a pretty big mouth for someone who got their ass kicked last time we fought.” Kai snarled.

Kris just scoffed back at that. “If that’s how you remember it kid.” He eyed Suho still at the side of the car. “See you brought your big brother to defend your ass.”

Both Kai and Suho snarled at that, moving forward, only to both be held back. Suho broke away from Baekhyun's grip to join the other four.

“Big words for someone who’s horribly outnumbered.” Kai glared his lip curling.

“I’ve got three other guys waiting back inside if really want me to kick your ass that bad Jongin.”

“You could have twenty guys waiting back inside and it wouldn’t mean shit. We’d still win.”

“Four against five seems like a perfect match up.” Kris grinned hotly. “Considering string bean over there was basically just used as a punching bag last time by my boy.” He nodded his head towards Sehun who clenched his jaw, stepping forward. He only froze when the door to the diner opened once again and a small delicate boy walked out.

Sehun felt his breath hitch watching Luhan eye them up, gaze fixing on Sehun a moment longer, before turning back to Kris, mumbling something. The bruise along Luhan’s jaw from where he got hit was visible in the dim lighting as well, and Sehun couldn’t seem to look away from it, a stupid wave of guilt filling his stomach despite not being the one to even deliver the blow.

Two other guys soon followed, filling out the door to stand next to Kris. Sehun recognized the one that had socked him repeatedly in the stomach from before - Xiumin?- wearing an apron for the diner inside. Next to him was a tall boy with black floppy hair that he didn't recognize, but apparently, Chen did. 

“That’s him. That's the other asshole who jumped me.” He tensed up moving forward, only to be stopped by Suho.

“Let them swing first.” He mumbled eyeing them all up. Suho hadn’t been in a fight since the days he was running around the streets being a misfit himself, but there was a certain fire in his eyes that Sehun hadn’t seen in a while.

Sehuns own hands had a slight shake to them, not from fear but from adrenaline and the tense atmosphere around them. It wasn’t a matter of if they were going to fight anymore - but of who was going to start it.

He got that answer quick when the short one stepped close to threaten them into leaving and Kai shoved him, leading the other to follow back with a punch. Fighting broke out just as fast as the last with the numeral advantage on their side this time around. Sehun dodged a punch by the tall dark haired one and threw one back, clocking the guy in the side of the face. He didn’t seem like much of a fighter, none of them really did compare to their gang, but that all came from plenty of practice.

The guy in front of Sehun stumbled back before swinging again, overreaching with the hit allowing Sehun to uppercut him to the jaw. That knocked him flat on his ass. Sehun didn't bother trying to jump him and hit him while he was down, instead, he was distracted by the sight of Luhan dodging hits being thrown by Chen. He was surprisingly nimble, getting a few good punches in here and there. The sound of a blade open behind him immediately caught Sehun’s attention, whirling around to see the black haired kid from before brandishing a switchblade. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who noticed with the sound of Chanyeol’s “Holy shit.”

There seemed to be a momentary pause in the fighting as everyone took in what was going on, but the silence was quickly broken by Kai’s switchblade opening too. The only thing you could hear before the fighting broke out once again was the sound of Suho yelling “Kai no!” and then it was chaos

Out of a really stupid instinct, Sehun tackled Luhan. They hit the ground and rolled for a second with Luhan trying to break out of Sehun's hold, throwing punches at him anywhere he could land. Sehun ignored it and hauled Luhan up, yanking him to the side of the building away from the fight. In all the mayhem no one even seemed to notice they were gone.

“Fuck you, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Luhan hissed 

“I um...” Sehun cleared his throat awkwardly “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Fuck you I’m fine,” Luhan tried to push Sehun back, but he just grabbed his arm. They paused, looking at each other before Luhan yanked away. “I don’t need you trying to protect me or whatever I’m not a baby.” Sehun stayed silent, his eyes drifting down to the bruise along Luhan’s chin. The smaller followed his gaze before shooting out an “I’m fine, I can manage myself.” He paused only a second before adding. “Besides, what do you care? We’re not on the same side here Sehun.”

Sehun looked up to meet Luhan’s eyes. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds with the sounds of their friends yelling still in the back and somewhere there could be sirens heard. Luhan’s expression was hard to read in the dark lighting, but Sehun hoped that his was just as mixed of pain and confusion as his own. When words finally seemed to come back to Sehun’s mouth, he opened it intending to voice everything he was feeling, but someone else spoke before he could.

“Don’t move!” A flashlight shone down the side of the building momentarily blinding the two boys. “This is the New York police department. You’re under arrest.”


	2. Love Me Sweet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this chapter also contains intense themes such as internalized homophobia, mentions of abuse, blood, violence, underage alcohol use, underage smoking, and underage sex. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment of what you liked, I love receiving them they make my day <3

Being stuffed in the back of a police car was just as unpleasant as Sehun had always thought it would be. The whole back smelled like bad liquor and vaguely of vomit. The officer didn’t say a word to Sehun as he tossed Luhan in the back, not that Sehun really minded, but he did mind a little when Luhan didn’t say anything to him either. The car ride down to the station was in silence with Luhan gazing out the window to the passing city lights. Sehun wondered what time it was now, he guessed it was closer to one, but he didn't wanna bother asking.

The silence continued as they yanked them both out of the car, guiding Sehun towards the station by a grip on his handcuffs and a hold on his head. Inside he could only gaze at the flooring with the way the officer was pushing onto him.

“Sit down.” He ordered, pushing Sehun down into a chair. Luhan landed next to Sehun with a thud as the officer guiding him did the same.

“What do we have here?” The receptionist leaned over the desk to eye the two boys. She had short brown hair and red nails and lips and oddly reminded Sehun of his mom.

“Just a misdemeanor. Public disturbance on both. I think the taller one might’ve had alcohol earlier, smells like it, but seems relatively sober now.”

“Alright well, bring them back boys.”

Sehun finally got the cuffs off when they unlocked them, only to jam his fingers onto an ink pad and then onto some papers. The flash from the photo they took of him was blinding, and surprisingly just as blinding sideways.

“Sehun Oh, six-foot, Born April twelfth, 1941. This all correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

From the side, Sehun could hear Luhan suddenly call out. “Wait, wait. You’re sixteen?”

But they pulled him along before he could respond.

“You’re gonna spend the night in the holding cell till you meet bail.” The cop explained as he undid his cuffs, pushing him in towards the room. “Do you want your call now or later.”

Sehun rubbed his wrists, he doubted that anyone in the gang could be of any help, and he'd bet his grandma would just sleep through the call. Besides, it was unlikely she had enough cash on hand to pay it anyway.

“Later,” Sehun mumbled, turning away to look around the cell. There was a long bench against one wall and a dirty looking toilet on the other. He opted to sit on the bench as far away from the toilet as he could.

“Your call kid.” the cop shrugged sliding the bar door shut. Once he was gone there was a few minutes of silence. Sehun’s foot twitched against the floor and he was itching for a cigarette at the moment to calm his nerves, but they had taken his pack back when he first arrived. The silence was starting to become a bit unbearable, Sehun use to being surrounded by his loud friends and staying in their house that never seemed to quiet down. The only time he got silence was at his own house, which he despised. The sound of the cell door opening again caught Sehun’s attention, making his head shoot up to watch Luhan walk in. The other cop closed it behind him too then walked off without saying anything else.

Luhan sat down on the bench a little ways from Sehun, saying nothing. Sehun looked down at the ground, not saying anything either. It was Luhan who spoke first.

“So you’re sixteen?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t look sixteen.”

“I get that a lot.”

Another silence passed over them, and Sehun’s foot started tapping faster, this time from being anxious at the atmosphere. “How old are you?” he finally asked.

“Eighteen.”

“Wow, you don’t look eighteen.” Luhan gave him a look and Sehun quickly moved to clarify himself, stumbling on his own words. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean that like - You know you look - you look good. And I don’t know how old I thought you were but it doesn’t matter ... I -just...sorry.”

Luhan cracked a smile followed by a light chuckle, then looked back towards the ground. Another silenced passed over them, this time with a little less pressure to it.

“Just so you know,” Luhan said being the one to break the silence again. “Kris isn’t that bad of a guy.”

Sehun involuntarily snorted and Luhan looked up at him with a careful smile on the edge of his lips. “I’m being serious, he’s an asshole at times, yes, but so are your friends.” Sehun couldn’t argue with that. “Kris... he..he's just got too much pride. He is a good guy though, he just doesn’t show it to everyone. Especially not to people who piss him off -and, for some reason, you guys do.”

“I could say the same thing about my friends,” Sehun said looking back at Luhan. “Kai might seem like a hot-headed asshole who picks fights with everyone, and that part is actually true, but there’s a lot of unexpected parts to him. He’s just got a hard time showing emotions besides lust and anger.”

Luhan let out a bitter sounding laugh. “Sounds like Kris.” he paused the same half-smile on his face. “See we’re not so different.”

That night chalked up to being one of the longest nights of Sehun’s life. They ended up staying up almost the entire time talking to one another. Luhan told Sehun about his friends. About Xiumin whom he’d had known since the day Luhan arrived in America, back when he was seven. He told Sehun about Tao, a boy who had recently immigrated over with his mom and could barely speak English. Apparently, Kris had a soft spot for Tao and taught him to speak the best he could. Sehun in return told Luhan about the day he met Kai when he had gotten in a fight with a group of boys, and of course, Jongin stepped in. He also found himself telling him about Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and how the two of them had become unusual friends cause the counselors at the school had forced them to talk after Chanyeol’s father had died heart attack and Baekhyun’s dad had previously died in a car crash.

Sehun woke up to the sound of the holding cell’s bar doors swinging open. Luhan sat up from where he had fallen asleep with his head on Sehun’s shoulder.

“Lu, your mom paid your bail. You’re free to go.”

Sehun watched Luhan get up and tried to bite back any disappointment that he felt inside. The smaller boy squeezed his hand subtly, giving him a soft smile before following the officer.

Not even five minutes later the same cop came back and slid open the door again.

“She paid for your’s as well.”

Sehun walked out, and standing in the lobby was Lugan next to his mom. She was pretty with a smile that reminded him of a movie star.  
Sehun wouldn't stop thanking the woman the whole car ride. She kept telling him it wasn't a problem and she couldn't just leave him back there in holding alone and be able to sleep at night. Luhan smiled at his mom and wouldn't stop grinning every single time Sehun thanked her.  
The car ride to Luhan's house was slow and loud which his mom contributed to the broken muffler. When they arrived the place ended up being a large two-story that was a bit run down. Luhan's mom offered for Sehun to stay for dinner and in return for all her kindness, he offered to fix the muffler on her car.

Sehun couldn't remember what they even ate for dinner that night, all he remembered was the feeling of Luhan's lips on his again.

School was the last thing on Sehun’s mind when Monday rolled around. But sadly it was unavoidable with his grandma shaking him awake and yelling at him in Korean to get up at the ass crack of dawn.  
Sehun typically would lug himself out of bed to stand under the icy water of the shower in an attempt to wake up, and on some days shake the possible hangover. Today it was to kill the problem between his legs that had risen with the memories of last night with Luhan. It was all very new; Sehun didn’t seem to have this problem with all the girls he had been with. But there he was, head against the shower wall, letting the water roll off his back, biting back images of Luhan with his delicate smile and soft lips. 

The sound of a horn honking outside confused the hell out of Sehun, but it was enough to pull him out of the shower and get dressed quickly, walking outside. Jongin sat in Suho’s car with a giant ass grin.

“Look what Suho let me take today!” He called up to the porch. Sehun grabbed his shoes and jogged down quickly, Jongin talking the whole way. “He said he didn’t want us walking to and from school today in case Wu’s gang decided to try some shit, and vuala, we get the car.” Sehun stopped at the side looking down at the old ragtop. “Well come on dumbass get in,” Jongin said leaning over to open Sehun’s door.

The drive from Sehun’s house to school was a lot fast than Sehun had wanted, enjoying the time in the morning with the wind of his face before he was cramped up in a classroom all day. Next to him, Jongin had been silent the whole time, but that's what was nice about being with Jongin, he didn't feel like he had to fill the space with unneeded conversation. Instead he took comfort in the silence, allowing a mix of thoughts raging in his head.

Math class was almost impossible to function in. It being the class before lunch, and the class Sehun hated the most. He sat there watching the teacher write problems on the board, thinking about Luhan. Since the moment he had pulled up to the school, Sehun had been looking around for the smaller boy. He had never seen him at school before he met him, so it was unlikely he’d have the off chance of seeing him today, but that didn’t stop him from looking. Sehun couldn’t hide the slight disappointment when he couldn't find him and was left just thinking about him all class.

Sehun was so zoned out that it took him a second to register when the girl who sat in front of him had turned around and started talking.

“What?” Was all Sehun said in response.

“I just asked if you were going to the end of the year dance next weekend.” She looked at him with an expression that was mixed with hope and nervousness, wide eyes not leaving his face.

“I uh..” Sehun hadn’t even known there was such thing as the end of the year dance, but now that she mentioned it he had seen flyers in the school with that title. And speak of the devil, the girl was pulling out a flyer and handing it to Sehun.

“My friends and I go every year, I’ve never seen you there but you should go.”

Sehun stared down at the bright yellow flyer the girl had set on his desk, not looking up. “Uh, dances aren’t really my thing.”

“Are you sure?” The girl’s voice fell and Sehun quickly said something else, not wanting to upset her.

“I’ll think about it though.” The bell rang and Sehun bolted up, taking the flyer with him. He stuffed it into his pocket walking down the hall quickly. He was about to make it out the door and to the Kim’s car, when a hand grabbed his arm, yanking him into a dark classroom. Normally when something like this happened it was Kai trying to hide and dragging him into whatever bullshit he was, but this time it wasn’t Jongin. Instead in the pitch-black room, Luhan’s voice rang out.

“ ‘Bout time, I’ve been looking around for you all day.”

Sehun smiled at that, reaching out until his hand came in connect with Luhan’s shoulder, at least he assumed it was his shoulder. “Funny, I’ve been looking for you.”

Luhan leaned in until their chest were pressing together. His breath was warm against Sehun’s neck as he spoke. “I wanted to tell you to come over to my house this Saturday. You did promise you’d be back to help.” His lips brushed against Sehun’s ear. “The house is going to be empty, just you and me, alone together.”

Sehun felt like he couldn’t get enough oxygen to his head with Luhan this close, his smell intoxicating. “Of course.” He responded, his hands reaching out to run down Luhan’s sides. Suddenly Luhan lunged him to kiss him. He missed his mouth by a few inches in the dark, but the couple quickly adjusted, pressing against each other. Luhan was the one to pull away first mumbling out an “I have to go.” But not before kissing Sehun again, nailing him on the corner of his mouth this time.

“See you Saturday,” Sehun called quietly after the other. Luhan opened the door and in the light that poured in Sehun saw him for the first time that day, smiling that beautiful smile back at him. “See you Saturday.” he echoed.

Sehun was late for lunch, showing up to Kai’s car later than he usually did. Most days, days when Kai couldn’t bring his car they would all sit in by the parking lot anyway, so he didn’t have a good excuse to why he wouldn’t be there on his usual time.

“Where were you kid?” Chen asked, barely looking up as he picked apart the sandwich he had for lunch, pulling the cheese out. They were all crowded around the car, Chen and Linda sitting in the back, with Kai and Chanyeol leaning against the trunk. Sehun moved to lean against the car next to Jongin.

“I uh, had to take a piss.”

Chen shrugged it off, accepting the answer and tossing his cheese onto the pavement below.

“All I was saying is she’s a major bitch.” Kai continued on. “She yelled at me in front of the whole class cause she said she caught me cheating, then failed me on the test.”

Chanyeol was busy trying to strike a match next to Kai, his cigarette waggled when he spoke. “Were you cheating?”

“Well I mean yeah.”

Chanyeol took the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling as he spoke. “Then get better at cheating dumbass.”

Everyone around the car suddenly fell silent as they all noticed the two boys walking their way. Chanyeol pushed off the car, squinting against the sun as Baekhyun approached, followed along by his close friend Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo was one of the few friends of Baekhyun’s who actually wasn’t scared of the gang. If anything - though Sehun would never admit- he scared them more than they could ever scare him.

“Park Chanyeol.” Baekhyun said, though his expression was emotionless, his voice had the twinge of humor that was always there when he said Chanyeol’s name.

“Byun Baekhyun.” Chanyeol grinned down at him with a playful edge to his voice too.

"I heard you were going to the dance with Pearl." Baekhyun said a grin stuck to his face.  
Chanyeol's face turned to one of shock. "The hell not, I never said that." 

"Well that's not what I'm hearing, word around school is that you two are going to dance together.”

" Well word around school is bullshit."  
"I can't believe Chanyeol actually got a girl to like him. " Jongdae cut in.  
"Shove it Jongdae.'"  
The sound of a car engine quickly cut off all conversation. They all looked to the ragtop car packed full of people, rolling by. Sehun's heart jump at the sight of Luhan sitting in the backseat, two of his friends on either side. Everyone around Jongin's car tensed up.

"The hell is he doing?" Jongdae growled, standing up in the back seat of their own car.  
The girl in the back seat next to Kris giggled as he revved the engine at them again, smirking challengingly.

" You think they wanna fight?" Jongin mumbled, his expression stony.  
Chanyeol shook his head. "They're just sending a message."  
"What message? That we'll kick their ass once again." Jongdae scoffed.  
"Don't be so sure it's a pretty even fight now."  
Jongdae just scoffed again. "I beg to differ you can't be seriously telling me it's an even fight. I mean look at the scrawny one in the backseat. You think he’s gonna be much help?" 

“I wouldn't underestimate him. I heard he broke two kids from Rich’s gang arms cause they called him princess.”

Sehun had to admit he wasn't expecting that from Luhan, but he wasn’t gonna lie when he thought it was kinda a turn on. The car’s engine revved two more times before Kris sent them a look and burned rubber out of the parking lot. Sehun watched them go with everyone else in silence before he suddenly turned to Jongin.

“Hey Kai, do you know how to fix a broken muffler?”

Sehun fixed the muffler without a hitch.   
It only took him around forty minutes, and Luhan had stayed sitting at the garage steps the whole time, waiting for him. He'd brought Sehun something to drink watched him in patient silence, only speaking when he was done.  
"Thank you for fixing it. We never would’ve been able to afford to take it in."  
Sehun wiped his hands on a rag Luhan had given him, clearing off any grease from the car. "No problem. Anything else I can do?"  
"Me." Luhan responded immediately with a smirk.  
Sehun chuckled, looking back down at the car and closing the hood from where he had briefly inspected the engine, looking for anything else he could ask Jongin about.  
"Thanks again," Luhan added, followed by a brief silence. There wasn’t a sound in the whole house since Luhan’s mom was at work, and the only noise was the honking of cars from the streets below.

"Have you always felt this way?" Sehun suddenly blurted out. "Felt this way towards..."

He trailed off, watching Luhan's eyes study him, his lips turning up into the slightest smirk "Haven't you?"  
The fact was: it was so obvious that he had, Sehun felt stupid for ever thinking otherwise. Something about being with Luhan felt so right, so natural. Even looking back to before he had met Luhan, it was obvious he had always been this way, he had just never been able to place what it was.  
"You know," Luhan said, breaking Sehun’s train of thought. "In ancient China, it was quite common to be like us. In fact, they had an emperor who was the same, Emperor Ai. The story goes that he was napping with his lover Dong Xian who had fallen asleep on the emperor's sleeve. He had then chosen to cut off the sleeve of his own clothing instead of moving his lovers head and risk even possibly waking him up. "

Luhan pushed off of the bottom step, sauntering over towards the car. "Historians referred to their relationship as 'the passion of the cut sleeve.' " He stopped when he reached Sehun, placing his hand on the car next to his. Sehun looked down at him, swallowing in anticipation.

"Then there’s also the love of the bitten peach," Luhan leaned in closer until their chests were almost touching - making Sehun's breath hitch. "There was a courtier for a Duke named Mizi Xia, and he was notoriously beautiful. Beautiful enough to get away with stealing the Duke's carriage and not being killed. One day, the duke and Mizi Xia were walking through the garden." Luhan paused, fingers tracing Sehun's jaw. "And Mizi Xia saw a sweet looking peach and took a bite. When it was as sweet as he thought he gave the rest to the Duke because he wanted him to have it. The Duke then said something, " Soft lips passed along Sehun's cheek stopping at the corner of his mouth," along the lines of 'How pure his love is for me that he forgot about his own pleasure and only sought to give me mine'" Sehun's heart was beating so fast that he could hear it, as Luhan's lips brushed against his. "Today, they still use the term peach to refer to people like us, people who are...”  
"In love?"  
Sehun felt Luhan smile against his lips. "I was gonna say gay, but same thing I suppose."   
Luhan suddenly moved away, taking a step back from Sehun, who's eyes snapped open - not even realizing that he had closed them. "Granted, the story ended with the Duke turning against Mizi Xia when his looks faded and charging him for stealing his carriage and saying how he had insulted him by offering a half-eaten peach." Luhan smiled a bit bitterly "But that's life I suppose. Happy endings are hard to come by." Luhan took another step back, and this time Sehun reached out and grabbed his arm. He pulled him back in, pressing Luhan against the car this time, with his hands on either side of him.  
"How poetic of you," Sehun mumbled in his ear. The smaller boy let out a soft gasp at the sudden power switch, while Sehun lightly nipped at his skin. "Where did you learn all this stuff?"  
"I -ah- studied it myself. It's..it’s fascinating."  
"You're fascinating ."  
"And you're cheesy." Luhan grinned.

Their lips connected and Sehun felt a jolt of electricity down his spine. He let out a low growl and unintentionally pushed Luhan back more, until the other was halfway laying on top of the car. Luhan kissed back eagerly before pulling away, already a bit breathless. His lips brushed along Sehun's as he spoke.  
"Have you already fallen in love with me Oh Sehun?"  
"I'm starting to." Sehun pressed back into the kiss heatedly.

It was half an hour later in the kitchen when Luhan asked him, taking Sehun completely off guard with the question. They had been in there for a little, passing time with talk about friends and school, and that's when Luhan brought it up.  
"A school dance?" Sehun repeated back, not sure he heard the other right.  
"The end of the year dance. I’ve never been to one before ‘cause no one I know would wanna go, and now it’s my last chance."  
Luhan leaned against the counter, watching Sehun's reaction as the taller mulled over his question.

"Come on." Luhan grinned, reaching out to grab Sehun's hand. "You said you can dance."  
Sehun paused a little longer, stepping closer to the other, "What if someone sees us?"  
Luhan looked up at him with that oddly beautiful smirk. "That's part of the risk."  
There was another brief silence with Sehun gazing down at the other before he answered. “Fine, I’ll be there.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

The day of the end of the year dance snuck up on Sehun.

On the last day of school, the whole gang had gotten blackout drunk and Sehun swore his hangover lasted the entire week after. When the morning of the dance arrived, Sehun was already sweating from nervousness. He woke up too early and ending up having to kill time for the majority of the day, but by six o'clock Sehun finally knew it was time to start getting ready. He figured he was better off getting ready back at his own house to avoid questions from the guys. But then again, they would also question why he'd left Jongin's so early since he practically lived there during the summer.  
Sehun settled for showering quickly and slicking his hair back, wearing the now clean button-up from Suho’s party. When he walked out to the living room a sharp catcall came from the couch.  
"Where you going Sehun?" Suho looked up from the paperwork on the table to raise an eyebrow at his friend's clothing choice.  
Sehun paused, considering his answer as he grabbed his jacket off of the back of a chair.

"Out."  
"What's with the getup? You gotta hot date?" Chanyeol called from the couch making Baekhyun giggle next to him.  
"Oh my god guys, I think he does." Jongdae’s usual stupid grin got ten times wider, he sat up from the floor to be able to look at Sehun. "Look at his face, it's turning red!"  
"Ah shove it Chen," Sehun mumbled, checking his appearance in a small mirror by the door.  
The tv they were previously watching was completely forgotten as everyone's focus turned to Sehun.

"Who is it Sehun?"

"Does she go to our school?"

"Do we know her?" Baekhyun chimed in.

"Where you even going?" Suho called from the kitchen, still set on that.  
"Is she hot?" Jongin yelled from the bedroom, walking out to join all the commotion.  
"What are you all writing a book? Its none of your business." Sehun looked away straightening his collar hoping his face wasn’t still red.  
"We just wanna help little Sehunnie out." Chen grinned somehow wider.  
Baekhyun sat up straight suddenly - as if realizing something. "Are you going to the dance Sehun?"  
He really hoped his face wasn't red now.  
"The dance? What dance?" Chen looked between the two quickly, hating to be left out of the loop.

"The end of the year dance dumbass." Kai cut in before looking at Sehun. "She really must be some girl if you're going to a school dance for her."  
Suho’s brow was furrowed as he gazed at Sehun, the papers in front of him completely forgotten. "How are you getting there?"  
"Prolly just walking," Sehun mumbled looking back in the mirror to fix any minor detail and have an excuse not to have to look at anybody.  
"I'll give you a ride," Suho said standing up from the table. It wasn't a question.  
Chen’s grin was splitting his face in two. "Great idea Suho, let's all go with him to drop him off."  
Chanyeol whopped at that and stood up.  
"No no no." Sehun whirled around. "You don't have to do that." Everyone was already filing out the door with too much energy.  
Suho was already in the driver's seat of the old convertible by the time Sehun walked out, looking at him like he was about to yell to hurry up. Sehun started for shotgun - but before he could even make it off the porch Chen slid in with that stupid smug grin. Sehun cursed under his breath and looked to the back, where Chanyeol cheekily patted the seat between him and Jongin. He reluctantly got in, Baekhyun up on the back of the car behind him.  
"Riding bitch." Kai grinned, swinging his arm around Sehun's shoulder.  
"Shut up."

For once Sehun was actually glad to see the school building pull up quickly. The whole car ride in the back Chanyeol and Kai were singing Shave 'em dry, the dirtiest song any of them knew, at the top of their lungs. Every once in awhile Baekhyun would join in with his melodic voice, and Chen would really go in for any high notes too.

"I would fuck you, baby, honey I'd make you cry." Chanyeol and Kai belted out. "Now your nuts hang down like a damn bell sapper. And your dick stands up like a steeple. "

As they got closer to the entrance people turned and looked at the noisy car on its way up. Sehun felt like jumping from the moving vehicle.  
"Your goddam ass-hole stands open like a church door. And the crabs walks in like people. Ow, shit!"  
Everyone in the car save for Sehun yelled the last line that was followed by laughter and horrified looks from the few students gathered out front.  
"Ooh! Baby, won't you shave 'em dry." Baekhyun belted out as everyone else laughed.  
"Byun Baekhyun." A woman's voice sounded over the roar of the engine when the car rolled to a stop. Outside of the door to the gym Mrs. Do, a teacher at the school - but more importantly Kyungsoo's mom, stood with crossed arms. She had a sour look on her face as she gazed at the car in front of her.

"Oh, hello ma'am," Baekhyun responded immediately, looking a bit flustered.  
"Does your mother know where you are?"  
"She knows I'm out ma’am."   
Mrs. Do pursed her lips before speaking again. "Does she know who you're out with?" She eyed the rest of the car with the same distasteful glare.  
"No, but I think that's beside the point."  
"Kim Junmyeon." She spoke again, her focus turning to the driver. "Still not going to come back to school?"  
"No, ma’am." He said, his voice coming out a hell of a lot more level than Baekhyun. "I've been busy workin’."  
"Yes of course, with your family I can see why."  
Sehun took this moment to slip out of the car unnoticed, hoping the guys would leave before Mrs. Do said something else.  
"I'm just here to drop off a friend." Suho continued, ignoring her previous statement. With that - everyone's attention was drawn back to the boy trying to slip away.  
"Have fun Sehun!" Baekhyun called out.  
"Mommy loves you!" Chanyeol followed.  
"Play nice with the other kids!" Kai grinned.  
"Use protection!"  
Sehun's face heated at Chen's comment, and he quickly closed the gym doors on Mrs. Do’s disapproving expression.  
Inside, the band played a cover of The Platter’s Only You. Sehun only recognized it because it was one of the only records Baekhyun was allowed to own. The dance floor had a surprisingly large amount of people on it, all of them Sehun had never talked too and never really planned to. Most people moved out of his way as he went by, unable to make eye contact with him. It was weird, he’d always figured people were like that because he was with Kai, and they didn't want to start anything with him. But It seemed the same applied to Sehun, the gang with him or not.

He was almost to the end of the gym, to the spot that Luhan had agreed to look for him at when someone stepped out in front of him. Sehun moved back, surprised at first before registering it was that girl from his math class. 

“You’re actually here.”

“Uh, yeah.” Sehun looked down at her, taking in her wide eyes and hopeful expression.

She giggled with a lot of nervousness before speaking again. “Would you like to... like to dance?”

Sehun could feel a gaggle of girls eyes on him from somewhere in the gym, likely watching if he’d reject their friend or not. He resisted the urge to look up and find out where they were, and instead focused on answering.

“Uh yeah, I guess.”

The girl reached out nervously for Sehun to take her hand. Sehun wasn’t particularly good at slow dancing and it didn’t help that his eyes were still wandering around the gym for Luhan. He’d probably stepped on the poor girl's feet four times now, and she hadn’t made a peep.

“Is Donna dancing with that greaser kid?” Sehun caught someone saying nearby. So Donna was her name.

“Yeah, he’s the tall angry looking one. What the hell is he doin’ here?”

“More importantly, why does she wanna dance with him?”

“I know, I mean, I wouldn’t stoop so low to date someone like him.”

Sehun figured he should’ve been offended about what he overheard, but he could care less, his eyes still scanning the room for Luhan. He stepped on the girl's feet two more times before he saw him. Up against a wall, over where Luhan had promised to be. They made eye contact as Sehun slowly danced around and around with the girl. Luhan raised an eyebrow watching them and gave Sehun an almost mocking grin. The taller looked back down at the girl he was with, she was gazing up at him but quickly looked away when he took notice. Sehun wished the song would end soon, but it felt like a whole other lifetime before it finally did. When the last note played, Sehun didn't waste any time to pull away and let out a hasty goodbye, disappearing into the crowd. He emerged back out by the wall with Luhan, who just gave him the same grin.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Sehun couldn’t help but smile back, “Thoroughly.”

“I'm glad you decided to come, I was half afraid you wouldn't show.”

“I promised I would.”

They paused and smiled at each other for a second before Luhan took a step closer.

“Well, I would ask you to dance but after watching you stomp on that girl's feet I think I'll pass.”

Sehun laughed reaching out for Luhan’s hands, who stepped forward once again. They were near the back of the dark gym so there weren’t too many people around, but Sehun still hoped to god that no one happened to be looking. He reached out, placing his hand on the smaller’s waist.

“What are you doing?” Luhan whispered, his breath hitching a little.

“You said you wanted to dance.”

“I was only kidding,” Luhan said his voice still just a whisper. “What if someone sees us?”

Sehun smiled down at the other, placing Luhan’s hand on his shoulder. “That’s part of the risk.”

They rocked back and forth to the music, it was a little too far off to hear that clearly. Luckily no one seemed to be looking at them, even so, the smaller boy looked a little tense at first but quickly relaxed, almost leaning into Sehun.

“This song sucks,” Luhan mumbled, his thumb rubbing small circles on Sehun’s shoulder. “They don’t play anything good, I can’t even hear it.”

Sehun started humming his own tune and Luhan paused, smiling softly. They danced slowly to Sehun singing Elvis's Love Me Tender above the other music. If there was anyone watching Sehun didn’t care anymore, they could say what they wanted, they could do what they wanted. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt Luhan.

The smaller boy joined in with the final few lines, Sehun’s heart jumping at the beautiful sound that left his mouth. “Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfilled. For my darling I love you….and I always will.”

They paused as they both stopped singing, stepping back to look at one another. The song in the back by the band had long since changed but neither paid any attention. Suddenly Luhan grabbed Sehun’s hand again, dragging him the few feet down the way and into the boy bathroom. Dropping hands as soon as they entered the two guys inside paid no attention to them. Sehun eyed Luhan warily, but the boy just walked to the mirror as if nothing happened, the taller eventually following him. Sehun was glad to see his hair had stayed mostly the way he wanted.

One boy left the bathroom without washing his hands, which Sehun tried not to think about too much, while the other took a few seconds before walking over to the sink and scrubbing his hands. As soon as the door closed behind him Sehun was stumbling back from the force of Luhan knocking into him kissing him senseless. They stumbled back into a stall, their lips separating momentarily as Luhan closed the door behind them.

Their lips crashed back into each other, Sehun's hands circling around Luhan’s waist to pull him against him. Luhan nipped at Sehun’s lip, slipping his tongue into his mouth. The taller groaned pushing him up against the wall, while Luhan gripped at the other’s hair, running his hands through it. Sehun’s hands gripped onto Luhan’s hips, hands snaking up the sides of the white button-up he had on which elicited a gasp from the smaller.

They broke away only to catch their breaths and rest their foreheads against one another. “Be mine?” Sehun panted out before he could stop himself.

Luhan looked up at him, still slightly winded himself, the grip on Sehun's hair tightened. “What like your boyfriend?”

Sehun tightened his hold, feeling nervous when Luhan said it out loud. Was it stupid to think they would even be able to date? He nodded anyway.

“Then yes,” Luhan whispered pulling him back in to lock their lips

July rolled around much faster than Sehun had been expecting. The days had grown more hot humid, and the nights didn't seem to help much to cool things down.  
Luhan spent a lot of the days working part-time at the diner, but almost every night they met up at one place or another. Sometimes Luhan would cruise by to pick him up and they would go down to different spots by the beach, ones that no one else seemed to go to and granted them privacy. On the best days Luhan’s mom worked late they would get to stay at his house.

During the day Sehun passed the time with the gang. Suho worked most of the time, which wasn't new. When Chanyeol wasn't working or with Baekhyun, he'd come back and suggest some stupid thing to do like climb up on the roof of the General store, whose owner was particularly fond of using a shotgun at them.

Chen and Linda had broken up once again halfway through June, which left him with an unusual amount of free time, the majority of which he spent sleeping. Kai picked up extra shifts at the auto shop, but still had too much time to kill with Sehun. They had miraculously managed to stay out of any fights, and nobody- save for Sehun- had seen any of Wus gang around. And just as fast as school had ended, July had begun.

The fourth was a hot night, possibly one of the hottest of the year, but yet still Luhan lay against Sehun’s side. The back of the car felt cool against Sehun’s back and it brought slight relief from the heat. With his hand behind his head and Luhan using his arm as a pillow, he felt oddly comfortable despite being out in the open, knowing no one went to that spot besides them.  
Sehun slowly brought his cigarette up with his free hand and took a drag. Exhaling it he watched the smoke disappear into the night sky and up towards the stars.

"Sehun?"

"Hmh."  
"Did you ever date anyone before me?"  
Sehun twisted his head a little to be able to look at Luhan best he could. It was hard to see him in the dark since the fireworks hadn't started yet. "No, not really. I mean I hooked up with different chicks, but that's it. Why?"  
"Just wondering if you've ever been in love before."  
A comfortable silence passed over them as they gazed at each other in the low lighting.  
"What about you?" Sehun mumbled, not realizing Luhan had leaned in close enough to brush his lips against his.  
"Dated or been in love?" Luhan whispered his lips dancing against the others with each word

"Either."  
"I dated this girl back in middle school. I wasn't in love, I didn't even like her." Luhan’s lips finally pressed against his in a chaste kiss. Sehun didn't settle for that, leaning back in for something deeper. The shorter kissed back slowly, bringing his hands to Sehun’s face. Unlike their normal kisses, which were lust-filled and heated, this was slow and full of feeling.  
The kiss was broken by Luhan suddenly turning away to look up at the sound of fireworks.  
"Ooh." Pink and blue washed over the car and Luhan spoke again, sounding like a kid awe, while his eyes sparkled under the lights. "So pretty."  
Sehun continued to gaze at Luhan for a little before turning to look at the display above him. Another comfortable silence washed over them as they lay there watching. Luhan's soft hand brushed around Sehun’s to the nearly burnt out cigarette to bring it up to his mouth to take a drag. When he was done he tossed it aside and continued to hold Sehun’s hand. It was another minute or so before he spoke once again.  
"Sehun?"  
"Hmh."  
"I love you."

Sehun turned his head to the side to be able to look at the other, surprised to see Luhan was already staring at him. The fireworks lit up Luhan’s face with different colors, flashing between red, green, blue, and pink. He looked so peaceful lying there.

“I love you too.”

A small smile formed on Luhan’s lips as he leaned in capturing Sehun’s lips between his own. This kiss was a lot faster than the last, but the passion behind it remained, the sheer force of it stealing the breath out of Sehun’s lungs.

“Where even were you last night?” Kai asked as he lay with his back on the floor, feet on the couch, aimlessly tossing a ball against the wall.

“I was just out with a friend.” Sehun sat in a dining room chair reading the comics in the newspaper. Suho’s record player was spinning Elvis’s Blue Moon next to him on the table. 

Kai turned his head to look Sehun in the eyes. “Uh-huh. So is this friend been the one who’s been giving ya all the hickeys on your neck?”

Sehun’s hand shot up to his collar bone, yanking his shirt up. Kai chuckled. “Who is it Sehun? Is it that girl you went to the dance with? Why won’t you introduce me? Is she a hog or something?”

“Shut up.”

“So is that a yes?”

The sound of breaking glass caught their attention, making both their heads to whip over and look across the street. Ineligible yelling could be heard along with the sounds of more glass shattering, followed by the slamming of a screen door. A few seconds later to no one's surprise the screen door to Jongin’s opened with Chen trailing in, letting it close behind him.

“So my dads home.” He deadpanned, dropping down onto the couch next to Kai’s feet. 

Sehun and Kai exchanged a glance before looking back at the other.

“Anyone got a smoke?” Chen said his expression stony.

Pulling himself off the chair Sehun grabbed his pack out of his coat on the table, holding it out to Chen. Everyone acted like Chen’s hands weren’t shaking when he grabbed one.

“So you guys doing anything?” Chen took the cigarette out of his mouth exhaling as he spoke. They both shook their heads immediately. “How bout we go catch a flick? The theaters got air conditioning that actually works and it’s too damn hot to sit around like this all day.”

“Whaddya gonna pay?” Kai retorted.

“No dumbass, but what do you got going on? Gonna go flog your log then sleep the rest of the day?”

Kai chucked the baseball at Chen which he caught with his free hand. “Fine. You going Sehun?”

It was unsurprisingly hotter outside, the sun burning Sehun the second he stepped out the door. From across the street, the sounds of yelling still drifted out, not as loud as before, but certainly not gone. Chen walked faster until the noise could no longer be heard.

“So Sehun.” Kai started, his steps matching the other two’s as they all walked in a line down the sidewalk. “You never answered my question. Is your girlfriend a butterface or not?”

“What girlfriend?” Chen turned his head to look over at Sehun.

“His girlfriend that he’s hiding from us,” Kai answered for him. “See he can’t even deny it anymore. But for some reason, he won’t introduce us to her. So the only logical conclusion is she’s got a butterface.”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Drop dead twice Jongin.”

“And what look like you?” the other sneered back.

Sehun was about to retort but at the sight of two girls walking past caught the attention of both Kai and Chen. Sehun looked over at the girls too, both of them wearing long puffy skirts with high ponytails, very clearly the types of girls that hated them back at school. As they went past Chen turned, walking backward to whistle. The girls shot a look over their shoulders and started to walk faster as Kai and Jongdae burst out into laughter.

“Come on you too,” Sehun mumbled practically having to drag them towards the movies.

Chen was right, stepping into the movie theater conditioned air was like heaven compared to the burning hot days of summer outside. The place was decently packed for how early it still was, but Sehun figured a lot of them must’ve been going to seek out shelter from the heat like they were. Some western that Jongdae wanted to see was showing, so they bought tickets then crammed their way into the theater. The movie barely started when Chen spotted them, grabbing Sehun’s arm to point and see if he wasn’t imagining things.

“Is that Linda, on a date?” Sehun whispered confused as he watched the guy she was with put his arm around her. 

“Yeah it is. Who the hell do you think she’s with?” Chen craned his neck to try and see her, only to have Jongin shove him back down to a sit.

“Just forget about it man. She’s a bitch you don’t need her.”

Chen didn’t look like he was ready to just forget about it “I just wanna know who she’s here with.”

Jongin sighed and looked to Sehun for support who gladly chimed in. “Just let it go, she dumped you this time, it’s her turn to come crawling back.”

“Son of a bitch.” Chen suddenly growled. “That’s fucking Kris Wu.” Sehun didn’t have to look twice, now that Chen had said it he knew he was right. But he also knew if he didn’t stop Chen some shit was going to go down. Lucky Jongin had the same idea as they both grabbed onto to Chen’s arms when he fully stood up and pulled him back down.

“Cool it.” Jongin hissed trying to keep quiet as some of the people in the theater had started to send glares. “You don’t want the fuzz to get called on us again.”

“I’m gonna kick his ass.” Chen was clenching his fists, his eyes trained on the couple down below them.

“Sure thing buddy,” Jongin mumbled gripping onto his arm to keep him down.

“And she, ” Chen snarled. “she really is a bitch.” 

Sehun watched as Linda leaned closer to Kris, resting her head on his shoulder as Chen continued to talk in the back. “but with no sense of loyalty to people at all.”

"Do you ever feel guilty?"   
Luhan looked over at Sehun surprised by the sudden question. "I've done a lot of guilt worthy things in my life Sehun. Guilty about what specifically?"  
"Guilty about sneaking around behind our friends' backs."  
Luhan moved against the seat of the car, twisting to face him. "What made you think about this?"

"Well, the other day we saw Linda with Kris." Luhan sighed before Sehun continued. "For obvious reasons, Chen wasn’t happy about it. Ranting about how she’s betraying her people and has no loyalty and stuff."  
Luhan paused, gazing at Sehun before answering. "No I actually don't feel guilty. I would if I thought my friends could handle the news of telling them, but I don't, so I won't. We deserve to be happy too Sehun. We're not doing anything wrong."  
Sehun nodded after a second and took Luhan’s hand. He pulled him in to kiss him softly.  
"I love you," he mumbled their lips still brushing together.  
"I love you too." Luhan smiled and ran his hands through the other's hair.

They pressed into a kiss, as usual, starting off sweet before progressing into something more desperate.  
Luhan's arms wound around the taller neck, pulling the other in so he could move onto his lap, tongue darting across the other’s lip.  
Sehun moved back with his hands on Luhan’s hips, rubbing small circles with his thumb. Luhan's fingers moved down Sehun’s jaw, fingers holding onto his chin as they broke away, out I breath.  
The car had grown hot in the midst of all of it, the heat between Sehun’s legs only grew when Luhan slowly started moving his ass down against Sehun’s crotch. The taller groaned lowly his head lolling back and his hips thrusting up at their own accord. Sehun's grip on the other tightened suddenly and he moved forward to press his lips against Luhan’s again. Suddenly Luhan slid off his lap and pulled him down by the loops of his belts, up against his body. Sehuns hands rested on the seat next to Luhan’s head, holding him up, as he pulled back from the kiss to suck on the part of Luhan's neck he knew could get him reeling.  
Luhan let out a quiet moan, his fingers threading into Sehun’s hairs and pushing his own head back to allow the taller better access. He moved along sucking hickeys here and there letting any girl or boy know that Luhan was his.  
The smaller boy let out a soft gasp before prying the other off to kiss him on the lips again. It was sloppy and heated, mixed with the feeling of Luhan pressing his knee into Sehun’s crotch. The taller knew he should’ve had more shame with what he was sporting down there, but he didn't, rutting back against Luhan’s actions.  
They kissed heatedly for a second longer, only pulling away when Sehun let out a deep groan at the feeling of Luhan’s hand slipping past the waistband of his boxers. He gripped onto his dick stroking it leisurely making Sehun moan and drop his forehead against Luhan’s shoulder, panting.  
"God, you're hot," Luhan mumbled, running his thumb over the slit. The whole car felt unbearably warm to Sehun, his hips slowly bucking into Luhan’s hand. It was far better than anything he'd ever done with his own.  
Luhan slowly picked up the pace, his grip tight on Sehun’s dick, running his pretty fingers along a vein up the slide, then down to fondle Sehuns balls. The taller bit his lip trying not to be too loud.  
Suddenly Luhan sped up again and Sehun let out a strangled gasp, biting the smaller shoulder to muffle his moans. Luhan gasped at that too keeping up the fast pace that had Sehun’s head clouding and the familiar feeling pooling in his lower abdomen.  
"I love you," Luhan mumbled.  
Sehun couldn’t even respond, letting out a high moan, forehead against Luhan’s shoulder panting hard against the smaller's collar bone, his hands clenching into fists. Luhan's thumb ran over the slit again, this time smearing the precum across it.  
Sehun came with Luhan’s name falling off his lips.

Some days it became unbearably hot to function like a normal person. Sweat clung to your body like a second skin, and the breeze did little to nothing to cool you down. It was on days like this that Sehun was particularly fond of going to the pool.

None of them were good swimmers. Hell, they could hardly swim at all. But anything was better than burning to death back at Jongin’s, watching tv to pass the time.

Immediately upon arriving Kai and Chen both pulled their shirts over their heads and dove in. Sehun was quick to follow, jumping in after them.

The lifeguards sent them dirty looks as they splashed each other back and forth. But it certainly didn’t help their cause one bit when Chanyeol cannonballed in, dousing the life gauding chair too.

When he wasn’t roughhousing with the others, Sehun liked to dive under the water and sit in the silence as long as he could. It was peaceful down there, allowing him to think, and looking at water always calmed Sehun down, something so soothing about it, allowing him to clear his mind.

Luckily most of the people had migrated to the opposite end of the pool to avoid their splashing, allowing Sehun the free place to just sit at the bottom.

He thought about Luhan of course. About the days spent together, the conversations they had, how comfortable and at home he made him feel. How he had randomly made Sehun a cake one night as a surprise, how he always liked to grip onto Sehun’s shirt when they hugged as if to hold him there a second longer. Sehun went up for air. He thought about Luhan’s friends, about how much he knew about them from just stories, about how Kris and Jongin had nearly gotten in another fight at Jongin’s work last week. Sehun went up for air. He thought about Suho. About how he had overheard Kai and Suho talking about their father together. About Jongdae and bruises, he had on him when he took off his shirt. About his own mother and father. This time when Sehun went up, he stopped when he saw Chanyeol sitting on the edge of the pool with three girls around him. They were giggling and staring at him. And while Chanyeol was chuckling too, his face screamed help me.

Sehun wadded over, making the girls look over at him too. One whispered something to the other and she giggled again.

“Uh Chanyeol, could you go with me for a second, I need to get something from the car,” Sehun said and immediately Chanyeol responded with yes, standing up too fast. He mumbled out a thanks as they trailed out too the car, to get nothing. Sehun actually ended up completely forgetting about the incident until a few days later.

"I heard something about you from these girls," Luhan mumbled, taking Sehun completely off guard. They were lying in the smaller boys bed sense his mom had been gone at work all day.  
They had spent most of the day watching tv together before making dinner. They then ended up in Luhan’s bed just cuddling and listening to the radio. It was Luhan who had broken the silence with his out of the blue statement.  
"I uh," Sehun wasn't sure why he was stuttering he had done nothing wrong, but maybe it was the way Luhan was staring at him, with an unreadable expression.  
Luhan moved up so he was practically on top of the other. "I was waiting on them at the diner the other day and they mentioned a ‘hot’ guy named Chanyeol. Then they talked about his tall friend with a pissed off face, so I know it’s you, and said tall boy with a pissed off face had water dripping off him and a hot body? They kept going on and on to each other about your arms." As he spoke Luhan ran his hands down Sehun’s arms. "And your chest." His hands moved to the tallers chest, running up and down. "And how you probably have a large-" Luhan rocked back into Sehun’s crotch eliciting a loud groan from him. "But all I could think the whole time was how you're mine." He smirked then leaned in to brush his lips along the tallers. "Mine to kiss." He pressed a soft kiss. "Mine to touch, and stroke, and pleasure." Sehun flipped the smaller over so now he was under him, grinning up and biting his lip with a playful gleam in his eye.   
Sehun leaned in, capturing the other’s lips between his own. They kissed roughly, Luhan reaching down to palm him through his jeans. Sehun moaned loudly in response, grabbing Luhan’s hands and pinning them above his head on the bed. Luhan let out heavy pants, lifting his hips off the bed to rut against Sehun.  
The taller let out another loud moan, losing his hold on Luhan’s wrists, who in turn flipped him back over so he was above him. Luhan moved down until he was face to face with Sehun's clothed crotch, nuzzling it. The taller bit his lip, closing his eyes at the feeling. Luhan moved quickly to unbutton the taller's jeans and pulled them down, leaving him in his underwear.  
Delicate fingers traced the outline of Sehun’s cock in his boxers, making him let out another groan, his hips bucking up to try and get some friction. Luhan just smirked before finally pulling off the boxers too. Cool air hit Sehuns dick and he let out a soft hiss and opened his eyes to look at the smaller. He was just staring down at Sehun’s dick with a lustful look in his eyes, licking his lip slowly.  
"Are you just gonna stare or are you gonna do something?" Sehun asked, his voice coming out a lot more gravely than he was expecting.  
Luhan's eyes shot up to look at the other quickly, then moved down, not having to be told twice. His mouth enveloped Sehuns dick making the taller let out a gasp and immediately grip onto his hair.  
Luhan bobbed his head slowly, only teasing Sehun more.  
"God Luhan." Sehun let a low breathy groan, his hips slowly bucking up into his mouth. Luhan let out a choking noise before adjusting slowly, his hand gripping what parts of Sehun’s cock he couldn’t fit inside his mouth. "You're so good at this." Sehun panted out and Luhan only hummed in response, the feeling only adding to the pleasure Sehun felt making him let out a soft gasp. Luhan's tongue ran up the side then circled around the head, lapping up whatever precum there was.  
Sehun threw his head back, his back arching off the bed. Pressing his arm over his eyes Sehun bit his lip harshly trying to stifle the loud moans that were threatening to spill out. After another second or two, Sehun removed his arm so he could look down at Luhan below him. He almost came at the sight.  
Luhan looked up at him with messy hair and pupil blown eyes, his perfect pretty delicate lips wrapped around Sehun’s cock in the most obscene way.  
"Oh god." Sehun groaned louder, the hand in Luhan’s hair tightening its grip. He tried to warn him before he came hard straight into his mouth, but the only noise that left Seun was a loud moan followed by a softer gasp.

Luhan pulled away with a smile on his lips as he ran his tongue over them to clean up any cum still on there.  
Sehun manhandled the smaller until he was situated until on his chest, smiling down at him. His hand reached out to massage the very obvious bulge in Luhan’s pants. The smaller let out a high whine, his eyes closing from the simple action.  
"What are you doing?" He mumbled half out of breath already.  
"Getting you off too, what do you think." As Sehun spoke he pressed harder down onto the smaller’s crotch, making a point.  
Luhan practically whimpered.  
Sehun moved his hands to undue Luhan’s jeans. He palmed him again making Luhan let out a tiny gasp followed by a high pitched moan. As quick as he had undone his pants, Sehun pulled down the smaller’s boxers, letting his cock spring free, precum already dripping down the slit.  
"Did sucking me off really turn you on that much?" Sehun purred, his hand moving up and down along Luhan’s dick. All Luhan could do was nod, his head dropping forward in pleasure, chin against his chest. Sehun smirked his hand picking up the pace a bit, making Luhan whine out, hips bucking up. With his free hand, Sehun gripped onto them, holding them steady. All it took them was a few flicks of Sehun’s thumb along the slit and Luhan was shaking, hands gripping onto Sehun's chest down below him. "Look up at me baby," Sehun mumbled. "I wanna see your face when you cum."   
Luhan did as he was told, letting out the loudest moan yet.

The first time Luhan got to see Jongin's house was a particularly warm day in the beginning of August. Luhan's mom had the day off so they didn't have any privacy at his places and they were planning to go down to an empty space by the beach again when Sehun heard the news.  
For a 'fuck school is starting again and summer is over party' the gang decided to make the drive up to Canada to buy cheap beer and get stupidly drunk and spend most of the night there. As appealing as slowly killing his liver sounded, Sehun lied and claimed he wasn't feeling too hot and he'd just stay back at the Kim’s house. The others bought it without a single question and even told him they hoped he felt better. And so Sehun had the house to himself.  
Luhan had to work until five so Sehun slept most of the day, and then on a whim decided to make the other dinner. He tried to make spaghetti, cause that seemed simple enough, but the sauce was too salty and the noodles crunchy, and by the time Luhan had arrived the kitchen was more of a mess than before.  
The smaller just laughed it off and busied himself with fixing dinner.  
Sehun swore it was the best pasta he'd ever had and Luhan told him to stop being a dork. Clean up lead to playful shoving, which then lead to playful wrestling, which then lead to making out on the couch. Every time Sehun began to pull away, mumbling something about cleaning up again, Luhan would pull him back down on top of him.

Sehun was too preoccupied with running his hands up and down Luhan’s waist to hear the front door open.  
"Oh my fucking god."  
The sound of Baekhyun's voice made the two pull away from each other as fast as they could. Sehun's heart was pounding a million miles per hour as he gazed at Baekhyun’s shocked expression.  
In the spur of the moment, Sehun pulled Luhan up and told him to leave. He turned to Baekhyun who was about to say something and clamped his hand over his mouth, speaking fast as he could.

"Please please, Baekhyun, please don't tell anyone I'm begging you, not even Chanyeol. Please I can explain please I-"  
Baekhyun smacked Sehun’s hand away. "Jesus shut up, I won't tell anyone if you'll just let me speak."  
Sehun dropped his hand to his side, realizing he was shaking slightly.

"I won't tell anyone." Baekhyun repeated. "I was just surprised. But I guess it makes a lot of sense.” He ran his hand through his hair. “ I mean you did have that weird phase that you would jump every time Jongin would even touch you - Yeah I noticed that. And you never are that interested in picking up chicks with them. Actually, I'm more surprised I didn't notice earlier." Baekhyun flopped down onto the couch before quickly standing up remember what was just going on there. He moved to a chair instead. Sehun stood still frozen, watching the other's movements.

"I'm also surprised you didn't notice the same for me. " Baekhyun grinned as Sehun’s expression moved to astonished. "I mean minus having a crush on Jongin." He quickly added. "But I understand the pain of having a crush on a friend. Though mine ended up good."

"Y-you...What friend?" Sehun finally found his words, and he surprised himself by that was the thing he ended up asking.

Baekhyun gave him a look from the chair, moving to set his feet on the coffee table "Who do you think?"  
"Chanyeol?" Sehun asked unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.  
The smaller just broke out into a wider grin instead of responding. Sehun dropped down onto the couch running his fingers through his hair, still feeling dumbfounded. "So you're gay?"  
This time Baekhyun rolled his eyes, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "No, I'm straight I just date men."  
"So you and Chanyeol are, dating dating."  
"Dating dating." Baekhyun repeated back. "Since we were fifteenish, so two years now. Celebrated our anniversary back in May. We acted like we're going to see a movie but instead, we went to the countryside for a picnic. It was as cheesy as it sounds. I loved it." Baekhyun had a faraway look in his eye as he spoke now, his expression happy. Sehun didn't have the proper vocabulary to even express his shock. He had so many questions he didn't even know where to begin, so he just settled on.   
"How’d you guys end up together?"  
Baekhyun gaze snapped back over to him. "I should be asking you that. Isn't that guy from Wus gang? How'd you even meet?"  
"We met at Charlie's, I didn't know he was with them at the time. We just, I don’t know made out ok and then we were both arrested together that time at the diner then we stayed in touch and now we're dating.”

Baekhyun grinned like a child on Christmas morning. “I honestly cannot believe you’re dating someone from Wus gang.”

“I honestly can’t believe you and Chanyeol are gay as well,” Sehun mumbled. The information still had yet to completely process in his brain. Yet hearing it felt like a knot had untied in his stomach. 

Baekhyun interrupted at that. “Where is he anyway? I went by his house and he wasn't there so I drove over figuring he’d be here, but obviously, that's not the case.”

Sehun paused looking over at Baekhyun. “Did he not tell you? He went up to Canada with the others to get drunk, they’ll be back in the morning.”

He sat forward to stare at Sehun with a furrowed brow before leaning back into the chair defeatedly. “Course he would do that.”

A silence passed over them and Sehun could cut the tension with a knife. He ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it after Luhan had messed his fingers through it. After a few seconds, Sehun finally spoke. “Are you ok Baekhyun?”

The smaller looked over at him with a blank stare before focusing in and speaking. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He stood up heading for the kitchen. Sehun watched him move around looking through cupboards in silence. When he returned he was holding one of the bottles from Suho’s stash. They all raided it constantly, and the older was well aware of it, he hardly even drank it himself, seemingly only buying it so the others could drink it.

Baekhyun sat the bottle down on the table between them. “Sorry I ruined your date Sehun.” The taller shrugged watching Baekhyun pour a glass of whiskey then offer the other to Sehun. He took it sipping it slowly, as Baekhyun did the same, dropping down onto the couch next to him, not even caring anymore.

“Does Chanyeol ever talk about me?” Baekhyun asked after a few minutes of drinking in silence. The sun had set outside since he had gotten there, leaving the only light in the room from a lamp across the room, which left the whole place in a yellowish hue.

“I mean yeah,” Sehun said, leaning forward to grab the bottle and pour some more. “He’s always blabbin about you and your achievements when you’re not here. Baekhyun got third in the grade, Baekhyun got straight As, Baekhyun might join track, Baekhyun got a letter from a college already.” Sehun took a long drink from his newly filled glass. “So yeah he talks about you.”

Baekhyun sat in silence for a second or too “Does he ever call me boring?” he then asked, looking over to Sehun when he did. Sehun stared back for a second, confused before shook his head. That at least seemed to ease some of Baekhyun's tension for the time being. 

The night ended up with them drinking more than they meant. A mess on the couch of laughs and hiccups.

“You know.” Baekhyun hiccuped before continuing. “I had a crush on Chanyeol, wayyyy before I met him. Back when I was thirteen I would stare at him from across the courtyard. You guys use to scare the crap out of me.” he confessed with a laugh.

Sehun started laughing at that, the whole concept of scaring people not exactly being a secret, but to hear Baekhyun confirm it, Baekhyun of all people, made him crack up

“Don’t laugh you guys were angry little shits.” Sehun laughed harder as Baekhyun hiccuped before continuing once again. “At the time Jongin’s nose was still all fucked up and wonky because someone broke it, in a fight no surprise. Suho was still in school then, weird to think he was my age, he seemed so old then, picking you guys up in his car. And Chanyeol had that stupid bowl haircut. He use to be significantly taller than you before you got close to his height, like a lot taller, you were so small.”

“I was not.” Sehun shot back still laughing.

“Yeah, you were.” Baekhyun laughed shaking his head, reaching out to grab the bottle again with another hiccup. “Anyway, I use to hate myself for liking him n stuff. But then - then I just gave up.” he laughed. “Kyungsoo's the only person I could tell, he guessed it actually cause I talked about hating that Park kid too much for me to actually hate him. Then you know the stuff with his dad happened when he was fourteen, and we started talking blah blah blah. And we actually became friends.” Baekhyun hiccuped once again. “But then one day, we were sitting on a roof of Chanyeol’s house talking, and I turned to look at him, and he looked back. Then I just kissed him. Surprisingly he didn’t push me off the fuckin roof or anything and he actually kissed back. “ Baekhyun laughed before saying. “I mean he didn’t talk to me for a week after that, but when he did, I tried to explain myself. He didn’t listen, he just kissed me again.” Baekhyun smiled softly down at his glass in his hands, letting out a small hic. “He then told me he doesn’t like guys, but for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about me. That I was his exception, that he liked me back. He was the one who ended up asking me out a few months later, and he was the one who ended up telling me he loved me first.”

Baekhyun took another sip from his glass looking up at Sehun who was half slumped against the couch armrest, looking at him intently. “Still.” Baekhyun continued again. “Sometimes I can’t help but worry he doesn’t love me as much as love him… I think that one day he’s gonna realize that he was wrong and he only likes girls. That he doesn’t want me around. That I’m boring, and he’ll want to date a greaser girl like Linda or something” Baekhyun looked away down at his glass, swirling the contents inside around. “I just love him so much Sehun. I couldn’t bear to think about losing him.” Baekhyun looked back up at Sehun, and the taller realized there were tears in his eyes, threatening to spill out. Sehun awkwardly leaned forward and pulled the other into a hug. He didn’t say anything when he felt Baekhyun's tears soaking into his shirt. “Why does loving someone hurt so much?” Baekhyun mumbled hoarsely. Sehun didn’t have an answer, and he doubted anyone in the world really did.

They woke up a few hours later, when the front door opened, still on the couch, a tangle of drunk limbs, the bottle out on the coffee table. Suho hardly paid any of attention to them, shuffling past in the still-rising sunlight, mumbling out a “G'd Morning.” The hangover from their trip clearly already hitting him. Kai walked in next, Chen hanging on his shoulder, almost a perfect picture to months ago when Chanyeol dragged him in bloody. This time however he was just passed out drunk.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Jongin said as his greeting, dropping Chen onto a chair and disappearing down the hall. Baekhyun hauled himself off the couch, stumbling a little as he exited the house letting the screen door slam behind him.

Sehun figured he’d better move to an actual bed and try to sleep a little longer before his hangover really hit him. He stood up and started walking too, before stopping at the window too lookout.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were hugging tightly in the front yard, Baekhyun's face pressed into Chanyeol’s chest, likely crying again. Chanyeol was running his hand through the back of Baekhyun’s hair trying to comfort him without even knowing what’s wrong. His face pressed into Baekhyun’s shoulder while the smaller shook with sobs.

Sehun didn’t know the real answer to why love hurt so much, but he thought maybe it because it was only fair to hurt when it also brought you so much joy. Loving someone hurt so much because love isn't a gentle emotion.

  



End file.
